


Waifs and Strays II - M.A.D. [Larry Stylinson]

by adidaslouis



Series: Waifs and Strays [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fanfiction, Larry Stylinson Is Real, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-26 17:49:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6249604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adidaslouis/pseuds/adidaslouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SEQUEL TO WAIFS AND STRAYS</p><p>MAD (also M.A.D.)<br/>abbr.  MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION (two opposing parties promise to counter any form of attack with equal or greater force, hazarding the possibility of the destruction of the own party)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Harry's POV**

"Fuck," I hear him cursing aggressively. It seems to pull me from the gentle dullness that is sleep.

Even though I know exactly whom the hoarse and vibrant, but delicate voice belongs to, I feel somewhat disoriented for a second, probably due to the fact that I just woke up. I don't know why he is up, though. It must still be night time. I feel like I've only been asleep for a couple of hours.

When I open my eyes, I am faced with the rocky ceiling of Louis' room. The only light source is a fireplace on the other side of the tiny cave.

For a moment, I feel nothing but happy that I am back here with him, that I didn't run away, and that when I tilt my head slightly I am faced with my beautiful boyfriend. I almost want to call him out on it and lure him back into bed, but then I notice his tense shoulders and the angry lines on his forehead.

The picture immediately brings back images from today and suddenly it hits me like a brick wall. The things that happened today and the reason for Louis' distress. The reason for the heavy rock that seems to be crushing my chest, making it hard to breath.

When I first saw little Linda lying there on the ground, surrounded by all those people, I was so confused. I didn't know how to process all of it. I didn't know how to move or what to think. It didn't seem to get through to my head that this was real. That a little toddler that was full of live and laughter just minutes before, would just be gone like that. I couldn't imagine anyone who would ever do that to a little girl.

When Louis read the note of the Grey Skins and lost it, I almost didn't notice for a while. I kept staring at Linda without really looking.

When I did get pulled back to reality by the loud screaming and shoving, I came across a side of Louis I had never seen before. He wasn't himself anymore. He looked like a lunatic, shoving away people, punching Carlos and Liam in the face who merely tried to keep him from going nuts. He was screaming and the look on his face was so scary. But I had to step in. I know, I was probably the last person he wanted to be calmed down by, at that point, but after ages of screaming at him and pushing back and telling him that it's no use to follow them, he eventually slouched his shoulders, curled down on the floor next to Linda, and started sobbing.

I don't think I’d ever felt this helpless in my life. All I could do was stand there and watch this amazing man mourn a little girl that he had known since she was a little baby. Even though I started caring about Linda very deeply while I had been with the Sparrows, I knew that Louis' pain must be so much greater than mine since he'd known her so much longer than I had. At some point, Liam and Niall carried her away. I didn't ask where they took her. It didn't matter. I could only think about Louis and how I needed to be there for him. We found our little dark corner in the main hall again and spend the rest of the day hiding. All of the Sparrows did. Me and him were left alone. But even though Louis allowed me to stay with him for the rest of the day, he didn't say a word. Not one word. Whatever I said to him. It felt like he had lost his voice.

He found it again when I led him back to his bedroom. But all he kept doing was mumbling some confused stuff about his father. I made him lay down with me and he even let me rest my head on his chest, but I don't think he really noticed.

"Lou?" I say and it feels weird using my voice, it sounds so weak, "What's wrong?"

Louis flips around with a fierce look on his face. It actually startles me how angry he looks. "What's wrong?!" he repeats in a high pitched tone, "This fucking backpack won't open," he grunts. The backpacks from our hunting trip are still untouched since we didn't have the time to unpack them after we got home. He shakes one of them and yanks on the zipper. "I just need the fucking flashlight," he snarls and punches the bag in anger. It is obvious that this is just a minor problem, but I decide not to point it out.

As I watch him fighting with the zip, my eyes fall onto his clothes. He is wearing a black pair of jeans, a plain t, and a light denim jacket on top. The same outfit he wore the entire day. Something about the look of his hair and his eyes makes me feel wary all of a sudden. "Wait, did you sleep at all?" I ask him and slowly sit up in bed. I feel so exhausted from the day.

"Nope," he says brusquely without looking at me, and adds, "Do I look like I got time for that?"

It stings a bit that Louis treats me like I've done something wrong, but I know the reason. He doesn't mean it to be personal. "Not one minute?" I ask as if I couldn't be bothered about his tone, "You look weary. What did you do all night?"

"Thinking," he answers curtly, before he pushes the backpack down to the ground in anger, "Shit, just fucking open!"

"What do you need the flashlight for, anyway?" I ask him calmly, "Why don't you just use fire and an actual torch like always?"

When Louis answers he still doesn't look at me, still fumbling with the bag. "I can't take that with me to the city, now can I?" he tells me in a dismissive tone.

To be honest, gradually I am starting to get annoyed by the way he is talking to me. But his words distract me from my irritation. "The city?" I repeat in confusion.

"Yeah, the Grey Skins live in an old office building in the city. It's grey. That's why they call themselves that," Louis tells me and groans as he finally manages to yank open the zip, "I can't walk into that office building with a torch like that," he says and kicks the unlit torch next to him.

I feel my pulse quicken as it dawns on me, and I hurry out of the bed. "Louis," I say in a careful voice, "what are you doing?"

The boy across the room doesn't answer anymore. He has retrieved a large knife and the flashlight from his backpack and is working on lighting the torch with fire. He leaves the cave before I can even pull on my jeans.

I start running after him while buttoning my shirt. I can’t wait for it to be buttoned before I go. "Louis," I call after him as I try to catch up. He is quick-walking through the tunnels, heading deeper into the cave now. "Louis, what the hell are you doing?" I ask him again as I reach him.

"Something, Harry!" Louis snaps, "I'm doing something! We've been sitting on our fucking asses all day, doing nothing about these retarded shitheads."

By now, I know the cave well enough to realize where we are heading. "What do you want from the storage halls?" I say, feeling wary. I know that this is a bad idea. I'm not a hundred percent sure what he is about to do but whatever it is, walking into the Grey Skins' HQ never seems like a reasonable pastime.

"You'll see," he grumbles next to me. He hasn't looked at me once. "Also, this flashlight needs new batteries as you may remember," he adds.

I do remember. When he found me again after I escaped from the hunting trip about 24 hours ago, he told me that the flashlight had run out of juice while he was looking for me, and so he constantly had to keep me from tripping on our way back to the camp.

Thinking about tripping makes my eyes wander down to my feet, but right now I am alright. We have the lit torch and I've been walking these particular tunnel quite a lot in the past few weeks, so I know where to step.

As my glance is lowered to the ground, my eyes catch something red that shouldn't be red. After the events of the day before, the sight of misplaced red makes me flinch in alarm. When I look at Louis' calf properly, I am actually faced with blood again. The calf that had been shot in the first couple of days that I got here has been healing just fine. Last time I saw the bullet wound, it looked so much better. On the surface, there was merely some scab over the punctures. But now the blood is seeping through his trouser leg like crazy. I don't even know how that could still happen.

"Babe, you're bleeding," I mumble, without really noticing the nickname.

But somehow it makes Louis' features soften slightly, for the first time since I woke up. He looks down on himself, obviously knowing what I am talking about immediately. "Oh yeah, that's nothing," he shrugs.

I look at his profile, not feeling convinced in the slightest. "It's running down your leg and you're wearing jeans," I point out.

"It's just on the outside," Louis tells me, completely unimpressed, "I must've picked at the scab while I was thinking."

I raise an eyebrow at him but he doesn't see. "Thinking," I repeat flat, just as we reach the storage halls.

Again without answering, Louis heads for the weaponry and determinedly opens a box to retrieve a gun. Then, he grabs handfuls of bullets and stuffs all of this pant and jacket pockets with them.

My eyes widen in alarm. "Louis! What are you doing?" I repeat for the third time tonight. This time it is more of a screech.

"I told you," Louis grunts defensively, "I'm doing _something_." With that, he walks over to a cupboard and rummages through some drawers for a pair of batteries, before he heads back out of the storage halls. "I'm doing something about those bastards. Nobody around here seems to care. First, they try to kill you," he turn around to me and looks at me pointedly before walking ahead, "I was about to go mad. I nearly bludgeoned that guy to death. And now," he stumbles, obviously struggling to say it out loud, "this," he settles for. "They went too far. They need to pay. Don't you get that?"

I walk next to him again, trying to take his hand but he jerks it away. "Lou, you can't just march in there and kill them," I tell him worriedly, "They are no amateurs. And you don't even know who of them did it."

"Who of them?" Louis scoffs, "Does that even matter? _All_ of them are part of that shit gang. All of them did it. They all need to die."

"Lou!" I gasp in horror, "You don't mean this, do you? This isn’t you. You’re not a murderer."

"Yes, I mean it," Louis defends himself with a deep frown, "Stop trying to tell me who I am. I am their leader, Harry. I have a responsibility for them. I am supposed to protect them. I failed Linda! I couldn't keep her save. I can't fail anyone else, okay? And they're not save until all of those bastards are dead."

I raise my sweaty hand to my hair and ruffle it in desperation. I don't know what to do. All I know is that I need to convince him to stay. He is going to get himself killed.

"Louis," I try to reason with him, "Niall told me that they have over a hundred members. Remember the amount of weapons Liam and Niall found the other day? And that must only be a fraction of what they have in store. They must have stuff that you can't even imagine. And you're just going to charge in there with that one pistol!?"

Louis shrugs again, as if he doesn't see anything wrong with that. "I am just one guy," he tells me, "It's still the middle of the night. They don't expect just one single guy coming after them. They most likely think that if we come after them, it would be all of us. I'll kill as many of them as I can before they can kill me."

What?! He can’t mean that. Is he actually saying that he is counting on getting killed in this insane mission?

"No!" I gasp in a panicked voice, "Babe, no! Are you freaking insane? You're not going to play martyr, you hear me? I won't let you."

I can feel my pulse raising through my veins. He is absolutely terrifying me. I am surprised that my mind is even clear enough to notice that we are passing Zayn's bedroom. His dark blue curtain is pulled closed, but I am pretty sure that he is sleeping behind it.

"Zayn!" I scream while still keeping up with Louis' pace, "Wake up! ZAYN!" I need all the help I can get to keep Louis from doing this.

Louis startles, shock clear on his face. "No, Harry!" he half-whispers and anger is seeping back through, "Are you mad? You're just making this harder than it needs to be. How am I supposed to get away from here?"

"Exactly," I mumble to myself and turn around to check if Zayn is coming after us. His door is already so far away that I can barely make it out in the semi-darkness. Louis is walking really fast. Shit. "Zayn!" I shout again, not caring if I wake up everyone else, too.

Suddenly, Louis stops and turns to me, pushing one hand against my chest to keep me from moving forward. "Haz, please," he says in a hushed tone, for the first time sounding soft, almost gentle tonight. He lightly touches his fingers with my lips to signal me to keep quiet and desperately looks into my eyes. "Please," he repeats in a whisper, "I can't properly say goodbye to you when he's there. I need to be able to say goodbye to you, baby."

For a second, I can feel my shoulders relax as a happy tingle runs through my chest. But then I remember the reason for the goodbye and come back to reality in no time. I stare back at him with a frown. How can he think I would ever be okay with this plan and just let him leave me?

I tilt my head back slightly to detach my lips from Louis' fingers. "ZAYN!" I shout once more, still keeping my eyes locked on Louis'. A hint of betrayal flickers over them before he angrily narrows them again, but I don't care. As long as he doesn't go, he can be angry with me all he wants.

"I'm here, jeez. Chill man," I hear Zayn's voice from a little far off and just catch him emerging from his room as I turn my head to look at him in satisfaction.

"Shit," Louis curses and pushes his palm against my chest to push me out of the way in anger, continuing his walk to the main hall. "Fuck you, Styles," I hear him hissing under his breath.

I only roll my eyes and make sure to keep up with his step. I know he doesn't mean what he is saying at the moment. He's just desperate and angry and feeling helpless.

"I'm doing this for you," I remind him as I walk next to him again, "And yeah, maybe a little bit for me, too, because I don't want to lose you. I can't let you do this. It's stupid and useless, and you know it."

"Fuck off, traitor," Louis grunts and makes a point of picking up speed but I easily match my pace to his. "I thought you were on my side," he continues when he sees that he can't get rid of me.

"I am," I promise him while walking right through the main hall towards the exit of the cave with him, "But not when you march off for the sole reason of getting yourself killed, just because of some misplaced guild."

"I'm not trying to get myself killed," Louis denies but I can't believe him right now, "I'll happily walk out of there alive if I manage to kill every last one of them before they can get me." He pulls the entry curtain to the side for me to walk through before he follows and allows it to fall back down again, without waiting for Zayn who hasn't caught up to us yet.

Although I am impressed that he behaves like a gentleman even in his angry state, I can't set my mind to it. He can treat me like a gentleman all he wants, but that doesn't make me forget about the topic at hand.

"That's bullshit, Louis," I say angrily, "You know exactly that you have no chance of geting out of there alive. And you are counting on it. Don't even try to deny it."

"Think what you want, Harry," Louis sighs in exasperation when we reach the cars, "At least I'm not uselessly sitting around, feeling sorry for myself anymore." He is really going then.

Before he can unlock one of the Jeeps, I finally lunge forward and grab his wrist to stop him. I immediately know that wasn't the smartest move.

Louis spins around to look at me with eyes twinkling in fury. "Leave me alone, Harry!" he shouts at me, "If you don't support my decision, then go to hell. I don't need your approval."

I feel so shocked by his harsh reaction that I can't come up with anything to say. Instead, I notice movement in the corner of my eye. Only that it isn't Zayn. When I look at the other person, walking towards us, I realize that it is Liam who seems to have been camping out from what I can see behind him. I frown at him in confusion. Why is he not sleeping in the cave like always?

"What's going on," Liam mumbles with a sleepy voice as him and Zayn reach us pretty much at the same time.

"No idea," Zayn replies, obviously already regretting to have even gotten up in the middle of the night, "All I know is that Harry screams for me like a maniac while walking past my room just so I can watch them fighting all the way over here."

Liam looks at me and Louis, raising an eyebrow in question. Louis simply turns away from us and goes to unlock the car.

"Louis is on his way to kill every single Grey Skin with just a tiny gun and no real plan," I explain to the other two boys with a sigh. When they only look back and forth between me and their leader with parted lips and a baffled expression, I mumble to myself, "or his brain."

"Are you crazy?!" Liam finally seems to find his voice again.

"Man, don't do something that reckless," Zayn adds with a groan.

"Reckless??" Louis snaps, "You're lecturing me about being reckless? You'd be the first to do something reckless around here." He is clearly overreacting, as he has been the entire night. He always get so defensive when he is worried. It's annoying and so uncalled for.

"He is right, though, Louis. You're not in your right mind!" I tell him in an equally angry tone. I am allowed to be worried too, am I not? He's about to get himself killed and he knows it. We all do. I couldn't live with myself if something ever happened to him. "You don't know what you're doing. You're behaving like a brainless idiot all night. You're saying that you're not sitting around feeling sorry for yourself anymore? Well guess what, now you're walking around, feeling sorry for yourself. I get it, you couldn't save her. But it's not your fault. You don't have to punish yourself for something you didn't do. You've been scaring me all day, Louis. You didn't talk to me, you didn't do anything else than mumbling confused words. You've been scratching your wound open without noticing it. You're not thinking straight, at the moment. And now you're on that crazy mission without even having a real plan other than to get yourself killed!" My chest is heaving when I've finished shouting. I can't believe that he doesn't see how much this affects me. How can he be so selfish?

"Yes, I do have a plan," Louis shouts back with clenched fists on either side of his body, "I'll go in there and shoot anything that moves. What is so hard to understand about that plan?"

"You're just trying to get yourself killed, Louis!" I tell him, tears burning in my eyes. To keep myself from crying in front of all three of them, I stop myself from saying anything else and take a couple of deep breaths, the cold air of the night filling up my lungs and unfogging my brain.

"Louis," Liam takes over in a calm voice, "It won't make it better if you go. It won't undo anything. It will only make you feel even more terrible, after."

Zayn shakes his head. "No. Harry is right," he says, "You won't even survive the visit."

"We can't let you leave," Liam concludes and pushes his body between Louis and the car.

The other boy groans in frustration. "Fucking get out of my way, Payno," he snarls, "You can't tell me what to do. I am your leader."

"You're an idiot, that's what you are," Zayn says in a dismissive tone.

In reaction, Louis curses at him under his breath and aggressively pushes past Liam as if he's had enough. He doesn't even look back at me when he opens the door to mount the car. So much for saying goodbye to me. I can't help but feel utter betrayal when I realize that he is actually leaving. This is the last time that I'll ever see him. And the last half hour that I will have spent with him is us fighting and screaming at each other. I can only stand there in front of him, feeling almost immobilized while he doesn't even feel the need to look at me once more.

"So you're seriously going," I say with a throaty voice while staring at the back of his head as he begins to climb onto the driver's seat, "You're seriously on your way to get yourself killed? After everything? You'll just step into that car and leave?" All I do is hope that he can hear what I am saying between the lines. Maybe that will make him stay.

Louis has stopped in his tracks when he heard my croaky voice and slowly turns back around to look at me. At first, his facial expression is slightly shocked. I don't think he has thought about it that way, until now. But then his features harden again. "Don't try and get to me like that," he hisses, disguising his desperation with fury, "How dare you play that card on me, at a time like this?"

On the sidelines, I notice Zayn and Liam exchanging weird looks but I can't care about them right now.

"This has nothing to do with any of these things. This is only for justice," Louis continues.

"Justice?" I repeat hysterically, "There will be absolutely no justice in what you're about to do. You'll probably kill people who had nothing to do with this. You'll get killed, Louis! There's no justice in that! And they'll come after your gang because of your actions. Do you want that? You'll be dead! And she won't come back either. There will never be justice about that."

Something flickers over Louis' face and he violently bangs the car door closed again, without having gotten in. "THEY MURDERED HER, HARRY!" he screams, his face a deep red and his eyes like flames.

For a long moment, there is no sound to be heard. We're all shocked silent. Even the wind in the trees seems to be.

Hearing him say it for the very first time feels like a knife burying itself in my chest. His voice sounds so vulnerable, so helpless. All my anger at his reckless behavior melts when I see the first tear running down his cheek.

"What am I supposed to do, huh?" he croaks in defeat, "Those bastards murdered an innocent 3 year old girl. I was supposed to protect her."

Without thinking about the presence of Liam and Zayn, I find myself stepping forward and closing my arms around his shaking body, hugging him tight. "It's not your fault, Lou," I whisper in my boyfriends' ear and begin to run my hand up and down his spine to comfort him.

"They murdered her," Louis mumbles against my shoulder when I slowly begin to rock us side to side.

I don't answer. Nobody does. I think we're all still surprised about the turn of events.

"I won't let you go, Louis," I tell him after a while, "I can't let you get yourself killed."

To my relief, I can feel Louis' head nod in the crook of my neck. So he gets it. He knows I won't let him. He understands. I can feel an entire mountain lifting from my chest and I begin to breath easily again.

"And we still have to give Linda a real funeral so we can properly say goodbye, right," I remind him, and press my lips against Louis' temple for a split second, not even kissing it, so Zayn and Liam don't notice before I let go of him and step away from him again.

"But they need to pay," Louis insists matter-of-factly, looking at Zayn and Liam for help.

"And they will," Zayn agrees with him, "I promise you, they'll pay. I'll gladly help you fuck up those scumbag faces."

"Yeah, but we need a plan first," Liam says with an angry frown, "an actual one. And we need to do it together. That's why we're a gang, remember?"


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, guys. I'm so so sorry, that I haven't been updating in over a year (!) but my life has just been crazy and I didn't really know how to keep the writing a part of it. I'm not in uni anymore, I have a real job. A demanding one. So I can't promise to update every week from now on. But I've missed writing so much and I really think the characters deserve a proper ending. So I'll just continue writing from now on.
> 
> This first time writing again is a rewrite, because lets face it. The original chapter number two of this story sucked haha! It's still not much, but it's better. Please, tell me if you're still reading this and if you enjoy my story! I'll be posting chaper 3 as soon as it's finished! All the love ♥

**Louis' POV**

It's raining. Of course it is raining. That's just what happens on days like this. The clouds are hanging heavy and dark over the small lake that is ripples by thousands of tiny raindrops, mercilessly hitting the surface.

The ducks have all fled from the lake, instead sitting at the shore, hiding their heads beneath their wings. They're not even bothered by the large group of humans, arriving at the lake and gathering around the painfully small hole next to me and Zayn.

Zayn and I are drenched from head to toe from the sweat and the rain when we drive our shovels into the ground right next to the small mound of soil, one last time, to make them stick. When I look up, a shiver runs down my spine as a see Liam and Niall emerge from the crowd, carrying a beautiful little girl on a rough piece of wood.

Somebody must have cleaned her and changed her into a new set of clothes. Her hair is down and neatly combed, if only a bit damp from the rain. She's wearing a purple and white flower crown that someone must have made from the flowers by our cave. She looks beautiful and calm, almost as if she's asleep.

Some of the people around us are crying silently. The younger children who don't understand the situation yet, look in confusion at the sorrowful faces of the older members or at Linda and the hole in the ground. I recognize fear on some of their faces, too. I’m not surprised. I’m also scared, but I’m not quite sure why.

I only know how completely wrong all of this is. This shouldn't be happening. We shouldn't be carrying a toddler to her grave. Nothing about this looks right. Even though I am still freezing from digging up the grave in the icy rain all afternoon, I can already feel the heat building up in my stomach again. If I am not careful, I'll be boiling over once more, same way I did, yesterday.

I know I shouldn't have punched my friends and screamed at Harry but no matter what everyone thinks, I was _not_ overreacting. These bastards need to pay and they will. I'll make damn sure of it.

Before I can work myself up into a frenzy again, I realize that Niall and Liam have gone to lower Linda into the hole. My eyes focus on her as I shove my hand into the pocket of my jacket.

"Wait!" I call out to the guys, my voice almost sounding frantic while I pull Linda's ragdoll Tinker out of my pocket and hurry over to her. I found the little doll abandoned in the main hall, this morning when Zayn and I left the cave.

Niall and Liam have stopped in their tracks and straightened up again when I reach them, so Linda is hovering between them at hip height. It's worse seeing Linda up close. I can't even tell you why. It's just that she's right there. But then she isn't.

I place Tinker in the middle of Linda's chest and move her little hands to rest on top of the doll. Then I look at the girl's face and try to smile at her, even though she doesn't see. I raise my hand to brush a wet strand of hair from her cheek and without knowing the reason, adjust Tinker on her chest once more.

"She'll still protect you, baby girl," I whisper with a lump in my throat. I can't seem to speak any louder but it doesn't matter. It wasn't meant for anyone else.

When I look up at Liam and give him a short nod to tell him to continue, I realize that he must've heard nonetheless. He looks back at me with a wetness in his eyes that has nothing to do with the rain. Emotionally too confused to do anything else, I turn away with a blank expression on my face. When Niall and Liam have lowered Linda into the ground, I grab a shovel to help Zayn transfer the soil back into the hole. My mind doesn't even register what we're doing exactly. I'm merely functioning. Pick up soil, throw it in, pick up soil, throw it in...

In no time, all the soil is back in its hole, building a little mound on top.  As I step back to watch Zayn lay a big pebble stone on top of the soft soil, all I want to do is run. He engraved the stone this morning. It only says Linda in curved letters and next to it he carved in the outlines of a little girl with lopsided pigtails.

I have never been so aware of the pulse running through my ears. I'm feeling hot and cold at the same time. I need to leave. I merely watch Perrie step next to Zayn to lay down a bunch of purple and white flowers (the same of which Linda's flower crown has been made of) on the grave, before I turn on my heels and feel my feet starting to carry me away from the scene, away from the crowd.

"Don't you think you should say something?" I hear his voice through the rain.

I stop in my tracks and turn around to Harry. I didn't notice him until now, but he is standing there with drenched hair, nothing shielding him from the rain. His eyes are red and I'm sure he has been crying but his voice is clear and strong.

"What?" I say in confusion and maybe a bit harsher than intended. I don't want to see this place anymore.

"The leader should say something, no? As a goodbye," Harry clarifies, somewhat more timidly adding, "You are the leader."

I look around to check everyone else’s reaction. Some are nodding in agreement. Some even look more timid than Harry sounded. Some look like they're preparing for an explosion. I know they all expect me to blow up on Harry, simply because I'm upset and that's just what I do when I don't know how else to deal with a situation.

But I surprise them all, by letting my head sink slightly. "I can't," I say honestly, "Please, I know she deserves a goodbye but I... I just..."

"I could..." Harry offers and I look at him in puzzlement, "If that’s ok with you, I mean. I could say something."

I catch myself sighing in relief and give my head a thankful nod. I walk back over to my friends and stand next to them, looking at Harry. For his words, I can stay a bit longer. For a last goodbye to Linda, I can control my anger.

"Linda," Harry begins, his eyes on the little earthen mound in front of him, "I honestly don't even know how to do something like this properly. So, I'm just going to tell you a story.” He clears his throat and pushes his wet hair out of his face, before he starts. “There was once a little kid with green eyes, just like yours. But his hair was dark, and he didn’t have as many freckles as you have. One day, he left the city with his parents and his sister for a trip to the sea. It was his first time at the sea, so you can imagine how excited he was. He kept nudging his big sister and asking her questions like ‘are there sharks in the sea?’ or ‘can we swim over to the continent while we’re there?’ He was really nervous though, because he had only learnt how to swim in the beginning of the same summer and he didn’t know how many minutes he could swim at a time before he would need a rest. But he wouldn’t want his sister to find out about his concerns, so he went ahead and just kept talking about sharks and how he would fight them off with a punch in the nose.”

A couple of people around the grave chuckled and Harry’s lips twitched at the corner. “Anyways, when he finally got to the beach and saw the never-ending expanse of the dark grey water, he could only think one thing: black holes. His dad had told him about the universe and red giants and dark nebula in which new stars are being born. The boy loved learning about stuff like that, but he was very scared of the black holes that suck in everything, even light, and turn it into nothingness. The dark sea reminded him of those black holes and suddenly he had no desire whatsoever to walk any closer to the waterline.

“His sister noticed and started to tease him and giggle. She said, ‘come on, shark boy, didn’t you want to swim over to the shore?’ The little kid with the green eyes started to whimper, even though he didn’t want his sister to see him like that. But he just couldn’t help it. He was too afraid of the water and how he might get sucked into it and never find his way back out.

“Then his father saw the little boy shaking and kneeled down before him. He said ‘don’t worry, buddy, I won’t let you get lost in the water. Remember, how much you practiced your swimming, so you could enjoy the sea to its fullest, this summer? I have complete faith in your skills. You can do it.’ He smiled at the boy, stood back up and held out his hand, his eyes set on the thin line between sea and sky. ‘Come on, we’ll go in together.’

“So, the little boy took his father’s hand and walked over to the sea with him. His sister’s taunts were already forgotten. But as the waves washed around his naked ankles, he stopped his father, concern creeping back into his mind. He looked up to his dad and whispered, ‘what if I lose your hand? What if I don’t manage to do it on my own?’ In answer, his father squeezed his hand reassuringly and said. ‘Even if you lose my hand, you’ll never be on your own. I’ll always be right there to help you if you need me. And even if you can’t see me anymore, I’ll still be… right... there.’ And with the last two words he touched his free hand right to the middle of the boy’s chest and smiled again. The boy nodded his head, gathered all his confidence and started walking into the deep, black water with his father. And suddenly he wasn’t scared anymore. Because he knew then, that if you have somebody who loves you and trusts you, you’ll never be alone.”

Harry smiles again, though his eyes are full of sorrow. “You were never afraid of water, were you, Linda?” he chuckles, and I know he is thinking about that day at the pond with her. “But just remember that wherever you are right now, we’ll always be right there with you. And you’ll always be with us. You’ll never be forgotten, brave little girl. You’ll always be loved.”

There are low cheers of agreement and a couple of shouted We-love-you’s and Always’. I nod my head determinedly and without realizing it, my lips start to move.

“That’s right,” I say, “You won’t be forgotten. Ever. Those bastards said, they murdered you to bring justice to what happened to that venomous snake of theirs, but that’s bullshit. There's nothing just about murdering an innocent child! But don’t worry. We will not let you have died in vain."

Nods and more approving shouts from the others make me stop and look up. Zayn is looking at me with an angry spark in his eyes and Carlo’s lips have cracked into a nasty smile. I can feel a spurt of excitement run through my chest. My brothers are with me. We’re going to avenge Linda’s death and we’re not going to show mercy.

Suddenly, I see movement in the corner of my eye and avert my gaze just in time to see Harry make his way through the crowd and hurry away towards the woods.

Without hesitation, I take a couple of steps back, letting myself vanish into the crowd, then turn around to run after him. I don’t know what exactly gave it away, but he looked distressed, even from behind.

Nobody else seems to feel the need to run after Harry themselves. They probably either think that I am handling the situation if he's actually trying to escape, or they are so buried in their own grief that they didn't even realize me and Harry leaving the circle.

I keep my eyes on his back while I follow him towards the woods. Seeing him this upset makes me hate those Grey Skins even more. But now isn't the time to let the anger take over. Not yet.

Harry vanishes into the tree line and only moments later, I find him leaning against a huge tree. He looks close to tears and somehow horrified. When he sees me, his eyes widen in surprise as if he didn't realize me following him. Nevertheless, he accepts my embrace without hesitation.

I can feel his entire body shaking as is pull him against my chest. Suddenly, I can hear tiny sobs and there’s a wet spot forming on the shirt over my shoulder. I almost fear I should've left him alone, but his arms hug me so tightly to his chest that all my worries fade in an instant.

I caress his back while listening to his sniffs in unease. When I plant a small kiss to his temple, he hiccups quite adorably. "I'm sorry, Lou," he murmurs wetly, "I'm so sorry."

"Shh," I say with a frown of confusion on my forehead, running my hands up his sides and then hugging him tighter. "There’s nothing to be sorry about, darling. I’m here."

"But I’m so selfish," Harry says self-depreciatingly, "You're here to say goodbye to Linda and not to take care of me. I should be the one comforting you, but here I am, distracting you from mourning the horrible death of a member of your family."

"No," I disagree with a frown while continuing to hug him tight, "Don't worry. It's fine."

"It's not," Harry reaffirms with a sob, "You must feel so much worse than I. But unlike me, you're so strong. You keep it together so well. I’m just scared to lose someone that I love while you have actually lost someone. And still, I am the one being comforted."

I scoff. "Yeah, I totally keep it together over here," I mumble sarcastically into his shoulder, "Call me Captain Calm. Totally didn't completely flip yesterday and acted like a lunatic for the rest of the day, now did I."

"I know," Harry admits with a small chuckle, "But that was only the shock. Now, you're so calm and strong."

"Believe me, Harry. For me, it's either this, or the way I was behaving yesterday when I went off on everyone," I tell him.

"No one blames you for that," Harry says with a sniffle, "Liam didn't even say one bad thing about the black eye you gave him, yesterday."

I smirk mostly to cheer him up. "Yeh, but that's only because he's terrified that I might give him another one," I chuckle.

Harry's laugh comes out as a sob.

"Hey, sweetheart," I hug him tight again, "What’s wrong. What was that about you being scared to lose someone, before?"

“No, no it’s nothing,” Harry straightens himself up and lets go of me, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “Today isn’t about me. We can talk later. I don’t want to be selfish-"

"Harry," I interrupt him urgently, clasping my hands on either side of his face to look into his eyes with a stern expression, "Stop that. It's absolutely fine for you to be upset, okay."

Instead of answering, Harry looks back at me with an unconvinced expression.

"Hazza," I continue in a much softer voice, "It was my own choice to come after you, wasn’t it? I could've stayed with the others and shut everyone out completely, except for Linda. I could've just ignored you, but I didn’t, right? If I didn’t want to be bothered with you, I would’ve just stayed there. But that’s not the case. Now please tell me, why you’re so upset. You’re saying, it’s not because of Linda, right? What’s on your mind, darling?”

Harry shakes his head lazily and looks to the floor. “Of course, it’s also Linda,” he begins, “Actually, a whole lot of it is Linda. But what just got me right there,” he nods his head to the group of people a little distance away, “is what you said. And everyone seems to be just as determined as you are. But I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

I think I know what he’s talking about, and I think I know exactly what we’re getting ourselves into, but I want to be sure, so I just raise an eyebrow in question.

“Louis, you can’t just march into a building full of people like that,” Harry says. It’s what I’ve been expecting. “They’re positively different from you guys. You saw them. As far as I’ve seen, they are ruthless. Every single one of the Grey Skins we’ve come across so far, have been killers. You guys aren’t killers, Louis. You’re good people.”

“Exactly,” I huff, “and that’s why our people need to be protected. And that’s why Linda needs to be avenged. You heard the others last night. We’re going to make a plan, first. We’re going to be prepared. You don’t have to worry anymore. I’m not just going to go charging in there.”

Harry leans back against the tree and takes my hand. He still looks horrified and his hand is still shaking. “But even with a plan, this whole thing is nuts, Louis. Didn’t you tell me how many members that gang has? You have what, five people who can fight? Ten? You’re outnumbered. And besides, I don’t really see the point.”

“You don’t?” I scoff flippantly, “Well she wasn’t _your_ little sister, now was she?”

“Lou,” Harry says calmingly, but it doesn’t work much, “I didn’t mean it like that. Of course, I understand your motives. I’m just saying, that it won’t make anything better. She won’t come back.”

“And that’s why we need to make sure those bastards won’t ever think of doing something like this again,” I argue, “And you know, they do. Think about the note, they left us. They’re going to kill every single one of us if we don’t stop them first.”

Harry looks back at me with wide, timid eyes. “Why is this happening,” he whispers, “Why do they have to threaten you like that? I can’t lose you, Louis. And right now, it feels like I will lose you either way.”

A jaded sigh escapes my mouth. “You won’t,” I breath and lean forwards to brush my lips against his. I’m glad that he closes his eyes when I do so, because otherwise he would be faced with the uncertainty that must be showing on my face.

Harry wraps his arms back around my waist and pulls me towards him. When he deepens the kiss, I close my eyes too, trying to drown out my thoughts and only feel him. I move the palms of my hands over his chest, towards his neck and start burring my fingertips into the hair at the back of his head.

Harry sighs and wraps his lips around mine. “I love you,” he mumbles, never disconnecting out lips.

At his words, my heart takes a leap. I’m still not used to this, but I try not to appear too surprised. “And I love you, Harry,” I smile into the kiss.

Harry must have felt it, because he pulls back an inch or so to brush his nose against mine and look into my eyes with a frown. “I can’t lose you, Louis,” he repeats sternly, “You’re going to have to promise me. Don’t get yourself killed, do you hear me?” His eyes flicker between the both of mine, left to right, as if he wanted to make sure not to miss my reaction.

“Loud and clearly,” I smirk and try to kiss him again, but he pulls his head back quickly and continues to stare at me challengingly.

I groan quietly and nod my head, a ghost of a smile still on my lips. “I promise, Harold,” I whisper, tracing his jawline with my thumb, “I won’t get myself killed. I’ll always be here to annoy the shit out of everyone.”

Harry doesn’t smile, but he gives his head one accepting nod. Before he can make me promise anything else, I tilt my head upwards again and reconnect our lips. I could definitely get used to this. I haven’t kissed anyone so naturally since I was a naïve teenager. Though Harry’s lips would’ve absolutely killed me if I’d have known him back then. Even now I can feel my knees go weak just from these innocent pecks on the lips. My teenager-self would’ve been howling by now. I gasp at the thought. Picturing my teenager-self with this Harry apparently does things to me.

Harry pulls away again and looks at me in concern. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

I smirk, feeling somewhat busted. “Just… my imagination is quite creative, I think,” I chuckle quietly.

Harry raises an eyebrow, but I’m not exactly ready to tell him about any weird fantasies of mine, so instead I bend my neck to shoot a quick glance upon the clearing. “Whatever. I think, we need to get back to the others, or else they’ll come looking for us,” I say and press another kiss onto his jawline. I really love how prominent it is.

“You’re right,” Harry agrees, and when I pull back, I can see that this simple initiative had made him smile, if weakly.

I pull away from him completely and look back to the others. They’re still standing around the grave, most of them holding onto somebody, heads down.

“You called Linda your sister, just then,” Harry notes, as we slowly make our way back to them. There’s no reproof in his voice, though.

"Yeah, you know," I say, "Linda always reminded me of my own little sister."

I can feel Harry looking at me sideways, so I push my hands into my pockets uncomfortably.

 "Lottie," Harry says and it's not a question.

"You remember her name?" I retort in surprise.

"Of course, I do," Harry smiles at me, "She's your sister. She's important."

A small smile creeps onto my lips, too. “When we took Linda in, a couple of years ago, she was the same age as Lottie was. The way I remember her. Both barely able to walk, but with blond hair and a wicked smile,” I smirk in reminisce. “So, ever since I met Linda, she's been my little sister."

When I dare to look over into Harry’s face, he doesn’t smile anymore, but his eyes are warm and kind. "She loved you like crazy," he tells me.

Not knowing how to react, I avert my eyes and clear my throat. We walk in silence, for a couple of steps.

"Do you miss her?" Harry asks quietly, after a bit. "Lottie, I mean."

"Huh," I raise my head and look at him again. Then, I shrug, "I think so, yeah," I mumble.

Harry smiles at me knowingly. "Don't even try to practice your acting skills on me, Tomlinson," he jokes and I give him a look that makes his features turn serious again, "Did you ever try to find her?"

I shake my head no. I don't even know why it never crossed my mind before. It's not that I don't want to meet her. I just don’t think, I’d be a good addition to her life.

"I mean, there must be some way," Harry continues, "You know her name and her age and maybe she even still lives in the city."

I shrug again, unable to come up with something better. "I dunno," I mumble, wanting to drop the topic.

“Don’t you think she deserves to know her brother?” Harry tries.

I huff. “I think she deserves a happy and save life,” I say dismissively.

“And that’s why she needs you,” Harry argues calmly, “I know, I’d be constantly missing something if I knew I had a brother out there, not knowing him.”

“Well, she probably doesn’t even know about me. She was too small to remember,” I say, my voice merely a whisper as we reach the others, “And let’s just drop it, please. I don’t want anyone to know about her, okay?”

Harry looks at me with sadness in his eyes, but nods his head and puts his hand on my back as we rejoin the others at the grave.


	3. UPDATE OF WAIFS AND STRAYS

Alright, just as an info for anyone ho hasn't seen it. I've finally rewritten chapter two (it's completely different, so it's worth checking it out), and I'm finally starting to write this story again so stay tuned haha :)


	4. Chapter Three

"So, what have you guys unearthed on your trip last week?" Niall asks as he walks next to Harry, rubbing his palms together keenly. The two of them, Liam, Zayn, and I are walking over to our cars that are hidden behind trees and bushes.

We'd given ourselves the day off, after the funeral. We couldn't have faced our duties or all those troublesome new developments, we couldn't have even faced tasks like running errands. So, instead we took the day off and most of our group spend it together, talking, comforting each other, remembering Linda. I didn’t want to see anyone, though. I retreated into my room and tried to will any passing person to just keep walking, so I could stay on my own.

Only Harry actually dared to come in, though. Twice. And him, I didn't mind. He just stayed long enough to bring me food and tea, and check that I really did want to stay in my room, all by myself. He smiled at me, each time he left, and told me to come get him as soon as I needed someone to talk to. But I didn't want to talk to anyone until late at night when he came back to go to bed. He pushed his mattress next to mine (we always push them apart in the mornings now, in case someone comes in and sees them, during the day) and lay down beside me, gently pulling my head onto his chest. We lay there, just listening to each other breathing, until finally I felt like talking again. I told him a bit about Linda because he'd only known her for such a short time, and I answered whatever questions he had about her. We talked for what felt like over an hour and only stopped when, eventually, our lips had found other ways to pass the time.

Today is a new day, though. Meaning, responsibilities calling for us, again. We started out pretty much exactly where we’d left off when we'd heard Perrie's horrible scream through the tunnels, a few days ago.

"Well, first of all, there's this," I say sternly and pull down the blanket that had been covering the motorbike. "It belonged to the guy who almost killed Harry," I continue, watching the half surprised, half puzzled faces of the other captains.

"Wait, what?" Niall doubles back and turns around to Harry who is standing behind him. "I thought that was a joke, the other day," he says, looking at me again, and searching my face.

"Nope, it definitely was not," I sigh and my eyes flicker over to Harry's as pictures of that horrible night crowd into my consciousness. That night when I thought he wasn't going to make it. He looks back at me almost apologetically.

"What happened?" Liam asks before motioning for Zayn to help him hoist the bike down from the truck bed.

"It was the first night," I say grimly, "I didn't fully understand what had happened, until Harry was already lying on the ground with a poisoned arrow in his neck, unconcious. I ran straight after the bastard that blew the arrow. I caught him, interrogated him. He didn't give us much information, though. All he did was laugh. I asked him how he’d found us and whether he was alone. I asked him all kinds of questions, how to save Harry. He didn’t give a flying shit. Had the ugliest grin. I won’t forget that smile,” I huff and feel my hands turn into tight fists. “Fucking laughed at my face, all the time. While Harry was there on the ground, moaning in pain. Just thought it was funny, the motherfucker. Even when I twisted the arrow in his shoulder and beat the shit out of him. He only thought it was dead funny, that son of a-"

"So… you killed him," Niall suddenly states. It’s not a question. He looks at me in disbelieve. Fear even.

"What makes you say that?" Zayn frowns, asking the question in my stead.

Niall shrugs, eyes wide. "He thought Harry was going to die. He was angry and desperate. The Grey Skin was obviously a shithead. Louis knew he wouldn't be any use in saving Harry," Niall sums up. Niall looks back to me, "You wouldn't have let him live if you believed he'd murdered Harry, would you, Tommo?"

I feel a frown forming between my eyebrows, as well. "Cheers Nialler," I grunt, "Now, I know how you feel about me."

"What?" he says, flushing slightly.

„I didn’t kill him, knobhead,” I say in offence.

“You- didn’t?” Niall grumbles, his voice sounding rather abashed.

“No, dude,” I exclaim, “I mean, yeah, I was fucking scared for Harry-” I catch myself a second too late. “I mean,” I clear my throat, immediately feeling my ears starting to burn. “I mean, what do you know,” I start again, rubbing my neck awkwardly, “The guy could’ve died. On my watch! Wouldn’t have wanted that to happen, now would I?” I look at the other captains, waiting for their reaction in anticipation.

Two of them smirk at me, one rolls his eyes.

“Dude, you realize that we’re not blind, don’t you?” Zayn scoffs, “No point trying to convince us that you only care about Harry’s well-being, because it’s your duty as a captain.”

The other’s laugh as if it’s the most ridiculous thought in the world.

My eyes flicker back over to Harry. He’s trying his best to suppress a smirk. Twat.

“Alright, whatever,” I say loudly, over the voices of the others and wait for them to calm down, “Anyways, the Grey Skin didn’t give us much info, as I said. He only made me more and more angry with his fucking indifference. So, I made sure he’d know that I would never let him be a free man, again. He didn’t seem to like that. And he must’ve been in a shit ton of pain because I had poisoned him, too. So, he swallowed a lethal pill and died right in front of my eyes.”

“You what?”

“He what?” the others exclaim at the same time.

“I think poison was his choice of weapon,” Harry remarks, “he had loads of it. Here!” He rushes to the front of the car, retrieving the bag of tiny multicolored bottles from the glove compartment.

When he reappears at our side of the car, the others huddle around him, examining the bag.

“I’ve never seen anyone, actually using stuff like this as a weapon,” Liam mumbles while rolling a cannula between his fingers.

“They can’t all be using that,” I frown, “It must be extremely expensive and risky to get your hands on any one of those chemicals. They could never supply a larger number of members with it. No, not even the Grey Skins.”

“Also, Linda has been shot with a gun,” Niall hums, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

There’s a short pause where everyone just looks to the floor or into the distance…

“The guy must’ve been smart,” Harry says quietly, “He didn’t just concoct all those different kinds of poison, he also seemed to have figured out individual antidotes for several of them.”

“All of them, as far as we know,” I agree, nodding my head.

Zayn blows his cheeks out in exasperation. “Think we might have underestimated them, mate,” he sighs, “I didn’t know we were in any need of keeping an eye on them. Why are we even on their radar?”

I shrug my shoulders helplessly. More images of the trip start flashing before my eyes. “His poison worked so accurately. It did exactly what it was meant to do. And in both cases, it only took the tiniest amount. You could probably kill an entire town with this thing,” I murmur, snatching a bottle with green liquid from the bag. “I mean he probably only had to dip the arrowhead into one of these and it almost killed Harry,” I say, not really addressing the others anymore. “The effect those few drops had on him,” I stop when a shiver runs down my spine. Grimly, I push the memory away and look up into the other’s faces, again. “And the little pill he swallowed,” I tell them, “He was dead before I really knew what was happening. It only took seconds.”

“Let’s hope not all Grey Skins are armed that heavily,” Liam says, in a stern voice.

“Why didn’t we ever have a run-in with them?” Niall wonders aloud, “They’re huge. They have power. How did we never see the threat they’re posing?”

Liam shrugs. “They’re not like the Creepers. They don’t try to convince the whole town that they’re running this place. They try to keep hidden. They’re more like us, I think,” he tells us. “If they do come out of their abandoned apartment building, they’ll stay low. Of course, they’re policies are a lot different from ours. They’re more of a machine. No children younger than twelve allowed, dress codes, different function for each member, unyielding hierarchy. And their commanders (which is like their equivalent to us captains) are ruthless, vicious even. All they care about is power and keeping their position. If I’m not entirely mistaken, their leader must already be approaching his thirties. But he won’t leave because having that many subjects below him, he doesn’t have a half bad life.”

By the time Liam finishes, we’re all blinking at him in puzzlement, or frowning as if a complete stranger had appeared in our midst.

“How the hell do you know all this?” I grunt when I find my words, again.

Liam coughs and looks away. “I just do, alright,” he mumbles, “You catch onto all kinds of information about this town when you work for the head of the police department.”

Zayn shakes his head firmly. “Naw Payno, you’re not getting off that easily,” he growls dangerously, “If the cops knew all of this, they’d have already shut the lot of them down.”

“Exactly,” Niall agrees, “This kind of information is way too particular for the police.”

We watch Liam blood creep up his neck as he runs his hand over his almost shaven head, which oddly reminds me of the haircut of all male Grey Skin members. “That’s stupid,” he wavers, “How else would I know…”

“Yeah, how else, Payno,” I say with a slight snarl, realizing how my insides start to fight a horrible war against unasked-for doubts gathering in the conscious parts of my brain.

“Liam, you’re not doing yourself any favors here,” Zayn mutters sternly.

“Just tell us, Liam,” Niall adds, “I know it’s not half as bad as it looks, right now.”

Liam looks back at him, obviously at unease. His eyes flicker over Zayn and me before he locks eyes with Niall again. “You sure about that?” Liam grunts, “Look at those two.” He gestures towards Zayn and my set expressions on our faces.

“Oh, for fucks sake, Payno, just spill it out, man,” I burst out angrily, not being able to stand that eerily feeling of distrust against my best friend anymore.

“Can’t be worse than what we’re thinking, at this point,” Zayn frowns.

“Liam,” Niall says pointedly.

“Well, alright, okay?!” Liam exclaims, rolling his eyes, “When I met you guys, I had already looked into some other gangs, knowing that allies would be my best bet of surviving the streets. I talked to a couple of the big ones because I was ambitious and proud. The Grey Skins seemed most interesting to me back then, I even met up with their commanders. They we’re all well into their twenties and basically just incredible tossers. I realized quickly that there’s a reason why gangs like that are big in the first place. I didn’t want to be part of a gang where I had to be scared of blackmail and threats and torture and dying, everyday. I was lucky I managed to leave their building alive when I didn’t join them on the spot. There’s no real trust between the leaders and their soldiers. That day was one of the scariest since I’d lost my family. But it was also the day I met Louis, for the first time.”

While processing this, I can’t really relax the frown on my forehead. Not even when Liam smiles at me sheepishly. Why has he never told us?

A picture of fifteen-year-old Liam at the skatepark flashes trough my head. A picture of him sitting alone, but watching everyone very attentively. I remember that time very distinctly. Back then, I would spend most of my days at the skatepark. It was when I learnt how to skate properly. But mainly, I kept coming back to the place in hopes of that one guy being there, too. He was tall and had dark, wavy hair. Most of the time, it was hidden underneath a snapback that he always turned backwards, revealing his handsome face. I just loved how his low sitting skinny jeans showed off his arse while he was skating around the park or practicing tricks. When I was really lucky, and it was really hot, he even skated topless. Back then, I had become awfully good at looking at boys and not coming across as suspicious. I know he must’ve been interested, too, because after a while I noticed him shooting me looks and taking off his shirt much more often, whenever I arrived at the scene, even when it wasn’t really hot that day.

The day I decided to walk over to him and ask him to teach me how to grind (with my skateboard), I noticed Liam for the first time. He was watching me closely. He looked away immediately, so I kept an eye on him for a while. I was affraid he might have seen me and the skater bloke eye-fucking each other all afternoon. I knew I had to be careful. But after I had caught Liam looking at me, he never let his eyes drift over to me again. He seemed to be analyzing every single person at the skatepark. It made me curious and I also felt the need to check whether he had caught onto my interest for the guy in the snapback. So, instead of walking over to the guy I’d been drooling over for weeks, I sat down next to Liam and asked him what he was doing at a skatepark, all alone and without a skateboard. A week later, he had officially become a member of the Sparrows. The bloke at the skatepark never came back again, after he’d seen me walk off with Liam, instead of him.

I remember meeting Liam, and getting to know him, so vividly. He’d never given me any reason to distrust him. Why should I start now?

“Wait, did you say, you’ve been inside their building?” Zayn says keenly.

“Yes, I did,” Liam nods his head.

“Shit, mate, that’s amazing,” he exclaims. I look at him in puzzlement, not quite seeing his point. “We need to know everything you remember from that day, so we can be prepared for possible traps or some shit when we pay them a visit.”

My eyes widen in delight, the weird moment before, already forgotten. “Perfect, I officially assign you head of operation,” I say, feeling the tiniest spark of hope, shooting through my chest. Maybe we can get in and out of there alive. Maybe I can pull this thing off, channel my rage. Still get them out safely…

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Niall asks, putting a hand on Liam’s shoulder.

Liam shrugs. “You know,” he stalls, “because I was afraid of your reaction. I was embarrassed. At first, I didn’t want to tell you, because I was scared you wouldn’t trust me and kick me out again. And after a couple of months, half a year, a year, I thought it’d look weird if I just randomly told you guys about it. It would’ve just made me look untrustworthy or something. I know I should’ve told you…”

“Don’t worry, pal. No harm done. You’re good,” I say quickly, realizing that the others turn to me, almost in bafflement. I guess my eagerness is showing. They can’t know about my plans. They’d never let me go through with it. “Yeah, well, it would’ve been appreciated if you’d have told us sooner,” I dial back, “but I mean, you didn’t know us when you met with them. And we know you’re our man. It’s fine,” I add, trying to defuse the tension.

Harry still looks at me suspiciously but the others seem to have taken the bait.

“Alright, so how are we moving forward from here?” Liam says, looking from face to face.

I shrug my shoulders. “Make a plan first,” I say, scratching my neck, “Then we’ll take them out.”

Zayn shoots me a nasty smirk.

“Hey, you guys should ask Ed and his gang for support,” Harry chips in, thrumming his boney fingers against the backside of the car.

I look up at him. First, in mild surprise, then an unwelcome feeling sets over my chest. “They’re called Shark Heads, twit,” I grumble through my teeth, “But of course you’d remember the ginger’s name instead, no surprise there. I mean, just think how terrific the two of you got on that night, am I right.”

Harry looks at me, taken aback. “I was just suggesting-”

“To spend some more time with your favorite little gang, yeah?” I cut him off, adding a forced laugh at the end when I realize how pathetic I sound. Where’s this heat coming from?

Liam raises his eyebrows and puffs out his cheeks. “Yeez, Tommo, chill.” He sighs and turns to Harry. “That was actually a pretty great idea. Why don’t you and I go see them, later?”

When Harry doesn’t answer immediately, I look at him quizzically. He’s standing next to the car, his gaze cast downwards. His fingers have stopped thrumming a rhythm against the side of the car but instead are just resting against it now. His expression is stern with that deep crease between his eyebrows and all. But somehow there’s also a hint of uncertainty in there, and maybe even guilt.

I quietly clear my throat when I realize what’s up. “Um, yeah. We should probably tell you guys one more thing before we go forward with any of our plans,” I murmur with a sudden sinking feeling.


	5. Chapter Four

**Liam's POV**

“Wait, what?” I gasp. Did I actually just hear our leader right?

“Are you fucking with us, man?” asks Zayn with raised eyebrows.

“No, I’m not,” Louis shrugs, “I should’ve done it ages ago. He’s a free man.” His eyes shoot over to meet Harry’s for a second, and he gives him a tiny smile. “I’m taking him back to the city as soon as I can.”

Zayn ruffles his hair with his lips pressed together. “Shouldn’t we have a say in that, too?” he frowns sternly.

“Not really,” Louis grunts in response, sounding completely indifferent, “I do manage to make decisions all by myself if you haven’t noticed. It’s a done deal, mate.”

“But we’re captains, too,” Zayn says, almost outraged, gesturing towards the rest of us, “Yes, you’re the boss, but we get a say, too. It’s not just your life to consider here. We all depend on the money we could get from him.” His eyes dart over to Harry as if it was solely his fault that Louis decided to let him go.

I kind of agree with Zayn on his first argument, though. I also would’ve liked to be informed about this earlier, but what can we do. The leaders of the Sparrows have always had the right to override the opinions of their captains.

Louis angrily takes a step toward Zayn. “Are you even listening to yourself, mate?” he growls. “He’s standing right next to you. It’s exactly _because_ I’m not only considering my life anymore that I’m letting him go. He’s going back to his family, end of discussion.”

“The fuck, Tomlinson,” Zayn growls back, suddenly looking dangerous as he always does when he gets furious. “You didn’t even consult us. We’re not your subjects, Louis. We make decisions together for a reason. Consider all options. Take all views into account. How are you planning to get your hands on money now, huh? Kidnapping the next rich guy? Befriending him, too? Acting like you’re best pals, putting all of us in danger, again? Oh, and then of course, I almost forgot, are you letting him sleep in your room, too?”

At that, Louis curses and jumps at Zayn. “Fuck off, Malik!” he shouts and firmly shoves him away. “You talk about Harry as if he’s just some fucking stranger.”

Zayn rolls his eyes and shoves him back. “He damn right is, you fool,” he snarls, and tries to block Louis’ arm as the latter takes a swing at him.

That’s enough. “Whoa, whoa, calm down, lads,” I say and step between them.

Niall immediately comes to my aid. Both of us eventually manage to pull the two wresting oafs apart. I shake my head in annoyance, keeping my arms tightly around Zayn for precaution.

“The fuck is your problem with him?” Louis who is being held back by Niall, yells at Zayn.

“My problem,” Zayn gnarls dangerously, “is that he is another fucking mouth to eat our shit. And you guys chumming up with him only turned him into a distraction! We went through so much shit because we didn’t just fucking keep him in his damn cell! He was supposed to be our prisoner, Louis, not your little puppy dog!”

“He saved your fucking life, shithead!” Louis screams at him, “You’d be fucking dead by now because you’re a fucking reckless bitch and you don’t care about anything but your fucking spliffs and spray paint-”

“Ha, you’re one to talk,” Zayn snorts dismissively.

“Oh, go fuck yourself, Malik,” Louis snarls at him, “You owe him your life, and you know it. He helped us in more ways than you probably ever did. And he doesn’t deserve to be treated like a piece of meat that you can trade off at the nearest farmers market. He’s going home!”

When I see Zayn opening his mouth to counter again, I can’t help my eyes rolling in annoyance. Are they ever going to stop? They behave like children.

“Then fucking tell me, what your plan B looks like,” Zayn snarls with a deep frown, “What if our supplies are running low again? What if the Grey Skins raid on us, now that they know where we live? What if we gain another member who can’t care for themselves, yet? What if one of our girls has a baby?”

“What is this even coming from?” Louis frowns, still looking angry but his voice sounding a lot calmer by now, “When was the last time that one of our girls had a fucking-”

“Alright, lads. That’s enough drama, for today,” I intervene and hear my own irritation in my voice. I want to let go of Zayn, but I’m afraid he’ll just go straight for Louis, again. So I turn to the side, Zayn still in my arms and shove him away, lightly, “You heard the boss. It’s a done deal. Yes, we usually do decide together and it would’ve been appreciated if he’d have talked to us first,” I shoot Louis a pointed look, “But he is the boss after all. And secondly, Harry isn’t a stranger anymore. Or a captive. You’ve gotta admit that, Zayn. Kidnapping him was a stupid idea in the first place.”

“And even if we’d have voted,” Niall chips in, “I know he’d be a free man by now, anyways. I would’ve voted for him, at least.”

The tiniest smile crosses Harry’s otherwise glum face. Louis walks up next to him and pads his arm reassuringly. It’s still incredible to me, how soft the lad is with Harry. He seems to be mouthing something to taller boy, but it’s unintelligible. Harry nods his head.

“Look, Zayn,” he then turns to the dark-haired bloke, “I’m sorry that this didn’t work out the way you guys had planned. I really am.”

“You don’t have to apologize to the jerk,” Louis growls next to him. “He obviously never saw you as an equal, anyways.”

Zayn doesn’t say anything anymore. Instead, he shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls out a battered looking cigarette.

“We’re the hell did you get that from? I thought ours were finished,” Louis ask him in disbelieve, his voice suddenly completely void of anger. Those two, honestly. It’s not like I’d turn down a cigarette, either. But those two literally smoke like chimneys (if they can).

Zayn doesn’t react to Louis’ question, simply pushing the tip of the cigarette between his lips and lighting it lazily.

I huff in exasperation and slide my hands into the pockets of my jacket. With the movement, my right hand closes around my phone. Mainly out of habit, I pull it out and take a look at it.

I’ve only had the phone for a short while, but I’m already so attached to it. It’s the simplest phone in the history of phones, but it is enough to receive texts from Sophia. I’ve been camping out for almost a week now. It’s because there’s no reception inside the cave. And while I do text with her a couple of times during the day, both of us have jobs and I have a million of other duties while the sun is up. So, night time is our time to text. Sometimes she calls me, too. It’s great to hear her voice. She’s funny. And smart. I think I might be addicted to talking to her. Sometimes we just spend half of the night simply sending texts back and forth, until Sophia tells me that it’s 2 am already and she has to get up early in the morning. She sends me ‘x’s every night, before she goes to sleep.

I turn on the display of the phone, lost in thought, and realize that I have two missed calls and three messages. Damn, I must’ve missed the buzzing because of Zayn and Louis’ squabble.

First, I check the missed calls. Both of them are Sophia. 9:37 am and 9:44 am. I can feel a mixture of two different feelings flooding my insides. Worry, and excitement.

But when I see that all three messages are also from Sophia, the excitement ebbs away in an instant. I open them.

Sophia, 9:38 am: _Liam! I need you!_

Sophia, 9:42 am: _Liam, please, call me as soon as you get this!_

Sophia, 9:45 am: _He touched me, again. I feel sick. I need somebody to talk to. Please!_

“Fuck!” I curse aloud.

The others look at me perplexed.

“That fucking pig,” I grunt under my breath.

“What’s wrong, Liam,” Niall asks me.

I look at them, only now remembering that they’re still there. “Shit, guys, I gotta go to the city hall,” I tell the others. “Right now. It’s urgent.”

“What why? Didn’t you say you’re first day of work is on Monday?” asks Louis.

I look at him for a moment. I really don’t want to tell them about Sophia, yet. And besides, her story really is none of their business. “Yeah, true,” I waver, “Um, but my new boss wants to talk to me about something asap. I think we forgot to discuss some important salary related issues.” I keep looking him straight in the eye. It doesn’t explain my sudden outburst of curse words, before, and I now it. But Louis shrugs.

“Alright, then let’s divide assignments,” he suggests, “Payno can go wangle some more dough for the gang.” He chuckles.

“Well, I gotta be at work at eleven,” Niall says, checking his watch, “I can’t be of much help. Sorry, lads.”

I nod my head quickly, feeling antsy. I need to get to Sophia. Not stand around here, making plans. “Yeah, that’s fine, Nialler,” I say in rushed words, “There’s not much to do, anyways, is there?” I turn to Louis. “The girls can run things around here for now, and we don’t have to get any new supplies for the time being. Besides, since all of us are going into the city anyways, we can each try and grab some stuff on our way back.”

“Yeah alright,” Louis nods his head, “Zayn and I go talk to the Sharks, then,” he says with a frown at the other guy, before addressing Niall, “We’ll take you to the city, in an hour. That alright?”

“Great,” I chip in, “I need the keys, Lou. I really need to leave. Harry, do you want me to take you to the city, now? As I’m going there anyway.”

Harry’s eyes widen in surprise. I feel like, he doesn’t even know what I’m talking about, at first. He exchanges a quick glance with Louis, and then shakes his head vigorously, looking back at me. “Um, no thanks,” he says quickly. “I still need to pack, but thanks for the offer. You go and hurry.”

If I wasn’t half as panicked, I’d probably wonder what exactly Harry was planning on packing, since he arrived with nothing but his headphones. “Uh, alright,” I say. “Louis? Keys?”

I’ve already started leaping towards the driver seat when Louis throws the keys after me. I catch them and open the driver’s door. Then, I remember something and turn to the blonde Irishman.

“Oh Niall, could you hand in my resignation at the police office for me, please,” I ask him, “They’re on the desk in my room. I actually wanted to come in with you to do it myself, but-”

“Piss off,” Niall simply smirks at me.

I smile and flop onto the seat. “Thanks, princess,” I call and bang the door closed.

When I start the engine, I can feel my blood turning to ice, again. That fat scumbag! While I drive from the scene, pictures flash in front of my eyes. Horrible ones. I don’t even want to imagine what he did to Sophia, but I can’t stop my head from spinning. We need faster cars, I think to myself as the needle quickly passes 90 on the small road leading to the city.

I grab the phone, dialing Sophia’s number. It takes ages for her to pick up.

“Yes,” I hear her feeble voice. She’s been crying.

“Sophia,” I breath, and notice the utter relieve in my voice. “Where are you?”

“’M at the restroom,” she snivels, “Right next to the cafeteria. I had to get away from him.”

“I’m on my way, love,” I promise, pushing my right foot down even harder.

“God, I feel so stupid,” I hear her saying, followed by a self-depreciating snort, “It’s not like this was the first time. It’s been this way for over a year. Ever since I started in this rotten place.”

I only listen to her, every single one of her words making me force the car to go faster. I don’t know what to say.

“It’s just that he hasn’t done anything since you caught us, the day you had your interview with him,” she tells me, her voice sounding somewhat stronger now, “he didn’t even suggest anything, since. I don’t know why, to be honest. He never cared about anybody knowing about what we do. But he stopped when you came along. And I must’ve gotten my hopes up. I think I hoped, he had finally lost interest,” there’s a pause, “But then, when I came to work this morning, he already greeted me with that weird look. I should’ve known then. When he called me in to discuss appointments for the day, he made me lock the door and take my dress off.” There’s silence. Put my hand over my mouth in shock as if not to yell in furry. I am going to kill that bastard. I seriously am!

She laughs again, but it is a wet and spiteful laugh. “I was naïve,” she tells me. “Why would he stop, just because someone comes along who tells him off, once.”

“That fucking piece of shit,” I growl furiously. “Sophia, I’m pulling onto the highway as we speak. I need to hang up. But I’ll be with you in less than 15, you hear me? Stay where you are. I’ll be right with you, love.”

“Oh, alright,” Sophia says, obviously trying to sound casual, “Drive carefully. Don’t worry about me.”

“See you in a bit, Soph,” I tell her and hang up, switching into the next gear.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I curse some more. The ride seems to drag on for ages. At least twice as long as usual. By the time I pull up in front of the city hall, my pulse has reached an all time high and my brain has given me enough material to run into the prick’s office, right now and finish the pervert off.

But I know that I need to get to Sophia instead, so I enter the building at a run and pass the stairs to make my way towards the cafeteria. The restrooms are right next to the entrance of the cafeteria. I only hesitate for less than a second, before I push the lady’s door open and burst in.

“Liam,” I hear Sophia’s surprised voice. She’s sitting on the floor, opposite the door.

“What, I told you I was on my way,” I say breathlessly, hurrying across the room to crouch down next to her. I put my hand onto her shoulder and try to check her overall state but Sophia shuffles up to her knees and loops her arm around my neck to bury her face in my shoulder, before I can make out anything that could give me an answer.

“I just didn’t think you’d come barging into the lady’s room,” Sophia chuckles thickly. I can feel her warm breath against my shoulder.

I gently place one of my hands on the back of her head in comfort, trying my best not to come across as intrusive. Sophia doesn’t seem to be crying anymore. Her eyes were still puffy when I came in, but from what I can make out now, she isn’t shaking or sniveling anymore.

I wait, remaining in the same position, until Sophia pulls away. She sits back down on her feet and looks down to the tissue in her hands. This is the first time I can really look at her. Her hair looks ruffled, her eyes and her nose are red from crying. She seems to have lost the lipstick on her lower lip almost completely. Her fingers are nervously nibbling at her nail beds. There’s a rip in the right leg of her black tights, vanishing under the hem of her dress. Her heels are tossed off to the side as if she’d gotten rid of them, first thing after she’d reached the bathroom.

“Your hands are shaking,” Sophia notices when she finally looks at me again.

I look down to my hands. They are shaking. I wasn’t even aware of it.

“Oh,” escapes my mouth quietly, “yeah, I was trying to be quick to get here,” I say, looking into her red eyes and decide to be more honest with her. So, I add, “And I’m angry. At that Griffith jerk, I must be full of adrenaline,” I scoff, and then pause. “And I was worried. Still am. About you.” I sit down on the floor to be level with her again, gingerly touching her arm. “Are you alright? Considering...”

The girl in front of me wipes her palms under her eyes and shakes her head with a forced smile. “It’s nothing. I can manage,” she tells me, “I don’t even know why I called you. I think it was just the first shock.”

“Soph,” I breath sadly, slightly lowering my head to beckon her to be honest with me.

“No really,” she chuckles, but it doesn’t sound amused, “I’m used to it, honestly. As I said, I think I was just getting my hopes up. I’m fine. It’s not like I’m the only woman who has to compromise so she doesn’t end up on the streets.”

I don’t know what to say. I know she didn’t just call me by accident after all.

“I mean, I was lucky even, today,” she continues, “He must’ve been really excited to have me again, after over a week. He was finished in just a couple of minutes. I didn’t even have to pretend to enjoy it to have it be over faster.”

“Finished?! Wait, so he didn’t just touch you. He raped you?!” The sentence is out before I can even think about how insensitive it must sound like.

Sophia stares at me blankly.

I pull my hand away, feeling mortified at my behavior and at the same time, feeling my blood start to boil again.

Finally, Sophia seems to have found her voice again. She scoffs scornfully. “What do you think, Liam? You saw what happened the day we met,” she says huffily, “You think he leaves it at feeling me up? He’s a man of power. His wife has stopped putting out for him years ago, because he’s never there for her and the kids. So, he decided to hire himself a desperate young secretary that he can fuck as he pleases.”

When her eyes meet mine again, I feel the blood draining from my face. It’s not that it didn’t cross my mind that the jerk forced her to have sex with him, but I think I just didn’t want to go there. I was scared to even think about it, so I convinced myself he only went that far like once or twice. I would’ve never dared to think he’d be using her as his personal sex doll.

“That’s horrible, Sophia,” I say and swallow hard, “Does anybody know?”

Sophia sighs and leans back against the wall, her shoulder touching mine. “I’m pretty sure, his pals know,” she says, “I don’t even want to know what they say about me. And I think some colleges from our corridor suspect something. But then again, every corridor has someone like me in this building. I don’t think they mind much.”

I shake my head in utter disgust. “I won’t let him do this to you anymore,” I tell her fiercely. “He won’t get away with it, from now on.”

Sophia laughs a cold laugh. “How do you plan on keeping him from calling me into his office, hm? He can do whatever he likes,” she says, throwing her tissue into the waste bin next to me.

“I-I don’t know,” I admit, shoulders slacking. But there has to be a way. I can’t let this keep happening to her. “You know what, next time he so much as looks at you weird, you tell me. Immediately. I’ll be right there. I’m starting here on Monday. So, you only have to get through today. I’ll talk to him. Maybe best if you go home for now and take the rest of the day off. I go up and tell him, you’re not feeling very well. Yes, I’ll have a word with him,” I say grimly.

“No, please,” Sophia gasps, “Don’t spoil it with him before you even started. Trust me, you don’t want him on your bad side. I can manage.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I say airily, smiling at her in reassurance to hide my anger, “I’m good at talking. I can make people see things my way. They listen to me,” I wink at her, trying my best to look cheery, “I won’t spoil it for myself, promise. I’ll be nice.” I cross my fingers behind my back, feeling somewhat juvenile for doing so but it makes me feel better about lying to her. In fact, thinking about it, I didn’t even lie in the first place. Much. “I’ll just make sure that you won’t get in trouble for staying away,” I continue, “I don’t like the idea of you going back up to him. Sitting right next to him, for the rest of the day.”

Sophia looks at me uncertainly. “He won’t be happy about it,” she says, placing her hand on my tricep. I don’t think she even notices, but I do. It calms me. For some reason it feels intimate. As if she trusts me. I really need her to trust me. I can’t have her go back to that scum, today. Especially not, looking like this.

“I’ll make sure he won’t let his anger out on you,” I assure her. “I’ll drive you home and then come back to talk to him. You go take a bath and drink some tea and don’t think about work anymore. Deal?”

I put my hand over hers and wait for her to think about it. She smooths down her dress with her other hand and runs it through her hair a couple of times. Then she gives me a tiny smile. “Deal,” she says, “But first, I need a coffee from the cafeteria. I don’t have any left at home, and I really need one right now.”

“Alright,” I tell her taking her hand and holding it in mine for a moment, “I’ll have one with you then.” I get up with her hand still in mine, and help her get up, too.

“Thanks,” she says, but lets go of me immediately, making me feel somewhat foolish.

She steps into she had tossed off in two swift moves and checks herself in one of the mirrors over the sinks. “Shit, I look like a zombie,” she huffs and snatches a paper towel to try and rub off the remaining lipstick and smudgy mascara.

When I open the bathroom door and hold it for her, she stops and looks at me again.

“Thank you, Liam. Really,” she says, takes two steps towards me and loops her arms around my shoulders, again. “I’m really glad, I can count on you like that.”

“Of course,” I breath, not being able to come up with anything cooler.

We walk into the cafeteria and get in line for the coffee maker. I make sure to keep at least a food distance between us, at all times. I don’t want to risk any “pals” of Griffith’ seeing us too close together. I don’t even want to begin to imagine what might happen to Sophia if anyone interprets something into an accidental touch.

We get a coffee each, and while I would’ve really liked to pay for Sophia’s, I barely have enough money for the cheapest one on the menu. Since it’s still long before lunch time, the tables are almost completely deserted, so we take one by the windows. It’s great to sit opposite her, being able to look into her deep brown eyes while talking to her. It got a bit frustrating, only ever talking through the phone for a week. I’m a little bit surprised that it doesn’t feel awkward at all to talk to her in real life. I usually am very bad a coming across just as cool as Zayn does in real life. I’m good at talking business with people. Not at small talk. But then again, I did know that it’s different with Sophia. So maybe it’s not very surprising after all.

“Did you just tell me you wanted a coffee, too, so you could join me?” she suddenly giggles, gesturing towards my cup.

I look down at it and realize that I haven’t even taken one sip and the coffee is luke-warm by now. “Oh-eh, I must’ve forgot,” I say awkwardly, feeling my ears prickle.

I take a big gulp, noticing too late that it tastes horrible. My face twists in disgust. “Oh god, do they not even have good coffee in the government building?” I croak, pushing the cup away from me.

“Not if you take the one for less than a pound,” Sophia chuckles, closing her eyes the process. She already looks so much brighter, by now.

I watch her for a moment, while she doesn’t notice because she seems to be preoccupied with something located behind me.

My heard starts to pound heavily as a thought crosses my mind. That particular thought has been floating around in my head ever since I first met her. It’s now or never, I think to myself, trying to work up my courage.

I cough nervously to clear my throat. “Sophia,” I say quietly, actually feeling quite lucky that she doesn’t look at me right now, “Uh well… I was thinking maybe we could go and grab a co-”

“Andy,” she calls suddenly, smiling right past me. I feel like she didn’t even notice that I have been talking to her. She beckons someone over. As I turn my head to follow her gaze, I see that “Andy” must be the tall blonde dude with the man bun and sun glasses, walking over to us with a big smile.

Him and Sophia greet each other joyously, with hugs and words and all that. This is just my luck. The moment I try to ask a girl out, a much cooler dude rolls by.

“Andy, this is Liam,” Sophia says, smiling at me when she has pulled away from the longest hug in history.

Andy pauses for a second as his eyes land on me. “Liam?” he says, his eyebrows raised interestedly, “Not Liam Payne, are you?” he says to my surprise.

“Um, yes, I am,” I utter, perplexed, “Uh sorry, do we know each other?”

That Andy guy laughs a loud and hearty laugh. “Not yet, pal,” he smirks and offers me his hand, “But we will, pretty soon. I’m Andy Samuels. We work on the same corridor. I’ll be your new partner.”


	6. Chapter Five

“Yo! What the hell are you guys doing here? I would’ve taken a shower if I knew we’d have visiters,” Calum yells, throwing the rag in his hands on top of the quad bike next to him when he sees Zayn, Perrie, Harry, and me jumping out of the car, “Oi Ash, look who’s here!”

Calum walks over to greet us. “No seriously, to what do we owe the pleasure, lads?” he asks, as he slaps hands with Zayn.

“We have to talk to you,” I tell the bloke with a stern face.

Calum’s smile freezes when he sees my expression. “Everything alright?” he asks.

Before I can answer, Ash and Luke who had been doing some repair works on one of the beach huts when we pulled our car onto the parking lot, reached us.

“Guys, great to see you,” Luke greets us, high fiving Perrie before he hugs her sideways to his chest. “Didn’t think I’d get to see my best girl for another two days.”

Perrie smiles at him fondly. “Did I tell you that you keep getting taller, every time I see you? Look how much you’ve grown already from last week” she teases, standing up onto her tiptoes. When Perrie was still part of the Shark Heads, she used to stick up for the then foolish little kid Luke, regarding him as somewhat of a little brother.

“Ugh, don’t talk like that,” he laughs, “You know how old that makes you sound?”

Perrie laughs, too. “Too old to walk by myself, at any rate!” she shouts, jumping up onto Luke’s back who doesn’t hesitate to run off with her on his back. He piggybacks Perrie in a huge zigzag line all the way over to the other Shark Heads by the water.

“How was she the stern, grown-up member of our gang again?” I turn to Zayn before I remember that we haven’t spoken since our fight this morning.

Zayn doesn’t look at me, still. Instead, he walks past me, shoving his shoulder into mine in passing. I look after him in anger. I might have forgotten our fight for a second, but I still haven’t forgotten what he said about Harry. What’s _his_ reason to still be mad?

Ashton chuckles. “Don’t fret, chief Sparrow,” he jokes in a teasing tone and puts his arm around my shoulders, leading me towards the others, as well, “Just because Perrie seems more open, playful, and joyous around our humble gathering of free minds, it doesn’t mean she likes us better.”

Him and Calum laugh. “Yeah, she’s just being reminded of how happy she used to be when she still was one of ours,” Calum adds jokingly.

“Very funny,” I grumble pensively, “Wasn’t our fault she switched teams,” I stop, “Eh gangs, I mean.”

“Switched teams, huh?” Ashton laughs, lowering his voice before he continues, so only I am able to hear him. “I know someone else who recently did that,” he tells me in amusement.

I roll my eyes and shove him away from me. “I never switched anything, dick,” I grunt through my gritted teeth, so Calum won’t catch my words.

Ashton raises his eyebrows, clearly enjoying himself. “Aha!” he says loudly, “You gotta tell me all about it, some time!”

“About what?” asks someone as we have just reached the others, and even his voice makes me want to punch his face.

“Nothing, Nash,” Ashton dismisses him with a wave of his hand, his smirk vanishing immediately, “You wouldn’t be able to process it, anyway.”

“Hey Harry, what are you doing here?” I hear another voice and watch Ed getting up from his seat. He pushes his seemingly ever-present guitar onto his back and walks over to Harry. The two guys hug like old friends.

I frown at the sight, wondering what the ginger did to win Harry over so quickly.

“Yes Tommo,” Ashton perks up, his face both surprised and knowing at the same time. “Why’s Harry here with you? Don’t you think it’s a pretty bad idea for him to know all of your gang activities? You know, him being your prisoner and all…”

I narrow my eyes at him warningly. “Let that be of our own concern, Ashton,” I snarl at him, “Besides, he’s not our prisoner anymore. I’m bringing him back to his family, tomorrow.”

I notice Zayn snorting derogatively behind Ashton’s back, but still he doesn’t look at me. In fact, he looks like he isn’t even following the conversation.

Ashton raises his eyebrows in genuine surprise. “Really?” he asks me, now completely sincere, “You’re letting him go?” he looks back and forth between me and Harry for a moment.

“Yes, we are,” I tell him, adding for Zayn’s benefit, “It was a stupid idea and the money isn’t even worth it.”

“Wow, I’m happy for you, Harry,” Ed turns to my boyfriend with a fat grin, “I didn’t like the idea of you being their captive, from the start. You’re a great guy.”

“Uh thanks,” Harry smiles politely, obviously not knowing how to react to that.

“Yeah, let’s get back to the reason why we’re even here, shall we?” I say grinding my jaw, “We can talk about how great Harry is, another time.”

“Can we?” Ashton smirks quietly. That guy seriously is annoying. Will he ever stop?

“What are you here for?” Ed asks me as he sits down again.

“We’ve got bad news,” I begin.

“Horrible news,” Perrie sighs, sitting down next to Zayn and taking his hand.

“What happened?” I hear Michael’s voice who has just arrived at the scene. He sits down, his hand resting on Ashton’s shoulder. “Do you need our help?”

“Maybe,” Zayn mumbles, “Depends on what you’ll say about our plans, going forward. You might not want to get involved.” It’s the first time I hear his voice since he yelled at me, this morning. Still, there’s no anger in his voice right now.

“Sounds serious,” Ed frowns.

I nod my head gravely and quickly notice that my fellow Sparrows aren’t planning on delivering the news. I huff in irritation, but I knew from the start that I had to be the one to tell them. I’m their leader. It’s one of my responsibilities, whether I like it or not.

I decide to get it over with fast, not giving any of my emotions time to surface. “Our youngest girl Linda, has been shot,” I say, not looking at anybody, “She died within seconds.”

I was expecting gasps and yells of shock. But there are no sounds. Nobody utters a word. Nobody moves.

I look up to see if they’re still there. Some of them look at me with parted lips, obviously not being able to grasp it. Others wear careful expressions, as if they were trying to decide whether I was telling a joke or not. Others frown at me in utter disbelieve.

“Linda?” asks Nash loudly. Of course, he’s the one to find his voice first. He always is. “Isn’t that the one with the puppy fat?”

“She’s two, you moron,” Ashton snarls. He really seems to hate him as much as I do.

“She was,” I say, feeling a knot building up in my throat again, “I’m not joking,” I add, looking at Luke who’s been seeking my eyes ever since I’ve told them about her.

“But… how?” Calum breaths.

“She was with me,” Perrie steps in, “We were outside our place because the weather was so nice and warm for a change. And then I heard shots and before I even realized what it was, Linda fell backwards. When I reached her, she was already soaked in her own blood. I’m sure those bullets were actually meant for deer.”

Calum puts his hand over his mouth. “No, that can’t be,” he says.

“When did this happen?” Ed asks, ashen-faced.

“Three days ago,” Zayn tells him, his voice sounding raw. A sound you don’t often hear from the dark-haired man.

“Sorry we didn’t invite you to the funeral,” Perrie says, slowly pulling Zayn’s arm around her own shoulder, “I guess we just weren’t able to think straight, these past days. I’m sorry if you wanted to say goodbye to her.”

Jade, sitting in between Zayn and I, puts her hand on top of Perrie’s knee and plants a soft kiss on her cheek. “It’s okay, sweety,” she whispers.

“I still don’t get it,” Ashton says, looking at me seriously, “Who did this? And why?”

I take a deep breath, looking from Zayn to Harry and back to Ashton. “That’s quite the long story, man,” I tell him before I seek Harry’s eyes again, “Would you help me explain if I forget anything?”

Harry smiles at me from across the fire pit and nods his head once.

So, I begin to tell the entire story again, already feeling sick of it because I feel like I’ve told it a dozen times, although, most of those times probably happened inside of my own head. Harry doesn’t interrupt me to add something very often, but whenever he does, I’m glad to be able to take a short break from talking. It also makes the talking parts easier because I feel like I don’t have to do this alone.

“Fucking sick lunatics,” Michael cusses when we have finished, his hands in fists.

“Who murders a toddler because they’re sulking over a friend being beat up?!” Calum gasps.

“Oh, I don’t think they know what happened at the clearing,” I explain grimly, “I think they only saw his motorbike and his belongings and assumed the rest. They’re probably convinced that we’ve killed their man.”

“Still no reason to murder an innocent child!” Ed growls.

“Precisely,” Zayn says, his eyes on the sand between his feet. “That’s why we are going to make them pay for it.”

The Shark Heads don’t react immediately. They exchange looks or pretend to be preoccupied with something else like burying their naked feet into the sand. I don’t have to think hard to evaluate their reactions. They know just as well as we do that we hardly stand a chance against the Grey Skins. Understandably, they don’t particularly like the idea.

“What exactly is your plan?” asks Ed, the only one who doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable or even surprised with this piece of information.

I avoid his gaze, feeling somewhat idiotic. “We uh, don’t really have an actual plan yet,” I admit to him.

Calum and Ashton exchange another pointed look.

I huff in impatience. “I know, it’s not much-”

“It’s nothing,” Calum murmurs audibly.

I frown but continue. “-but that’s why we came to you,” I say, mostly addressing Ed because I know he’s my best bet. “We understand if you don’t want to risk your own lives for this but we came here to ask you guys for help, nonetheless. If you can’t square the thought of giving us soldiers with your responsibility as the leader to keep your people save, we’d still be grateful with equipment, weapons, armory. Even if you only help us with the planning of tactics or strategy.”

I pause. Ed nods his head and searches the faces of every present Shark Head as if to consider their thoughts.

“We are aware of the risks that come along with the plan,” Zayn supports me, “we entirely understand if you decide to stay out of this one. But we wouldn’t ask if we saw a better way.”

“What do you guys say?” Ed addresses his gangmates. “I don’t want to decide something like that without consulting you.”

Calum huffs with a frown. “I don’t know, man,” he says without looking at any of the Sparrows, “The Grey Skins are really strong. And we might be the most insignificant gang in the city. That’s the only reason why nobody ever bothers to come after us.”

“That’s not true,” Perrie chips in, but I don’t know where she was even going with it.

“No other gang gives a shit about us, and it should stay that way if you ask me,” Calum finishes, shrugging his shoulders lazily.

“I think Calum is right,” Luke frowns pushing his wavy blonde hair out of his face, “We’ve been save because we stayed out of trouble until now… But didn’t the Sparrows live by the same philosophy? Don’t they try to stay out of trouble, too? It didn’t help them much, now did it?”

I suddenly feel a jolt of appreciation for the kid, but I’m still anxious for what the others will have to say.

“Well, they didn’t do a very good job of staying out of trouble, did they?” Nash snorts unperturbed. “Especially those two,” he points at me and Zayn, “they keep getting themselves into trouble. Carlos is the next guy they’re raising to be a gamble. And then there’s this one,” he jerks his head in Harry’s direction with a nasty smirk, “Kidnapping a class A citizen isn’t exactly laying low, now is it?”

Some of the others raise condescending eyebrows or adopt a pondering expression on their faces. It’s not like he’s wrong, for once. Every dog has his day, right?

“Okay, but think about what happened to Linda,” Ed points out, “She’s definitely not been any trouble. Would you like something like this to happen to one of ours? Your sister?”

Nash’s face turns white for a moment and just a quickly, bright red. “The fuck do you think?” he grunts, “Of course, I don’t want that to happen to her. No reason to use it as a way of winning the others over, though!”

“I’m not using it to win anyone over,” Ed argues calmly, “I’m just putting things into perspective. Imagine something like this would happen to us and we were the ones asking the Sparrows for help. It’s safe to say that they wouldn’t hesitate for a second.”

I give the ginger a grateful smile. He said he didn’t want to decide without consulting the others, but he is their leader after all. If he sticks his hand up for something, there’s a bigger chance that the other’s will follow his lead.

“And think about the map that Tommo found,” Zayn adds for consideration, “They don’t seem to be specifically targeting us. There were a chunk of x’s and circles on that map. They could crop up here any time now, for all we know.”

I see Luke and Michael exchange glances again. This time they don’t seem so very disapproving anymore. They look much rather like something is dawning on them.

“Ed is right,” Ashton says quietly, looking at his hands in thought. “The Sparrows would’ve never hesitated to come to our aid if we were in their situation.”

“They’re our friends,” Ed nods his head, looking from face to face, “Our allies. If we can’t depend on each other, we can’t depend on anyone but ourselves.”

Luke nods his head and suddenly looks determined. “Let’s do it for Linda,” he exclaims.

The rest of the Shark Heads cheer and even Calum punches his fist in the air.

I try to catch Zayn’s eyes to smile at him triumphantly, but he seems preoccupied with Perrie. When I look up, I see Ed walking towards me through the cheering mob. As soon as I get up to my feet as well, the Shark Heads shut up and eagerly watch the two leaders stepping in front of each other.

“Let’s show them what happens if you start a war against the underdogs,” Ed says to me, putting his hand out.

“They fucking bite back, bitch,” I smirk and clutch his palm, grimly looking back at him.

The others yell and shout in approval and the few people who had still been seated, jump up to high five each other, too.

I feel a rush of adrenaline shoot through my veins. The roar of the crowd and the confidence in Ed’s eyes give me an unexpected thrill.

Ed bums his other fist into my shoulder lightly and returns to his seat between Harry and Luke.

When Ashton notices his leader’s actions, he immediately pushes two fingers between his lips and emits a short but sharp whistling sound. “Oi, calm down, everybody,” he warns his gangmates, sitting down himself. The others follow him suit, partly still smirking and fist-bumping.

“If only you’d have your own gang under control like that, eh Tommo,” Perrie whispers, leaning over Zayn.

Her and Jade erupt into stifled giggles, and even Zayn can’t seem to suppress a smirk.

I flip the girl off, but don’t have time to come up with a devastating retort because Ed raises his voice once more.

“We’ve gotta go ahead and make a bulletproof plan then, don’t we,” he points out.

I nod my head. “Yes. I would suggest, we meet at our place, tomorrow night,” I say, “Liam and Niall will be off work. I think it’s best if all of us are present for the planning. And besides, Liam has already been inside the Grey Skin’s building. We need him to prepare better for what’s waiting for us. We should be able to avoid the more risty areas of the building.”

“Great, we’ll be there,” Ed smiles.

“Thanks,” I say to no one in particular, “Really guys, thank you.”

“Always, brother,” Michael grins, getting up, “Wouldn’t want to miss our favorite chief Sparrow getting his ass kicked by a bunch of Grey Skins, eh?”

“Oh, toss off,” I grunt and flip him off as well. Why does everyone always seem to have it in for me?

The others laugh and get up as well, starting to clear off, doing whatever they’d been doing before we arrived.

However, I stay seated, noticing that Zayn hasn’t moved, either. Jade and Perrie on the other hand intertwine fingers and start for the beach.

I look sideways at Zayn. While I am still annoyed about what he said about Harry, I am grateful for his support, trying to convince the Sharks to join us. I also hate not being able to talk to him because it’s great to have someone I can count on. We pretty much never fight. We seem to see eye to eye about almost everything. I usually know that he’ll be on my side, endorsing even my most imprudent suggestions. Adding to them and pushing them further even. Not being able to exchange crude remarks with him makes the day seem only half as successful.

I cough casually. “Got the lot of them pretty excited to fuck up some faces, didn’t we?” I sneer when I’m sure he’s the only one who can hear me.

Zayn’s frown only deepens. Then he pushes himself up and walks across the fire pit. In passing Ashton who’s still sitting next to Luke, he high-fives the Shark, grunting something about Perrie and Jade.

“Alright, see ya, mate,” Ashton calls after him.

“I’ve gotta leave for the city, now,” Ed announces, “I have a gig at the mall in the financial district. They’re not paying me, but at least they let me perform.”

“He’s spreading his wings,” Ashton says in a wistful tone.

“Trying his best to weasel his way out,” Luke adds, pretend-weeping, “Abandoning us.”

“Oh, stop whining,” the ginger guy snorts, “You know as good as I do that those rich people are extra eager to reach for their wallets on Friday afternoons. Just when they get into weekend mood.”

“Excuses,” exclaims Luke, clutching his chest, “excuses and lies!”

Ed laughs, getting up. “You guys are too much,” he chuckles, then turning to Harry, “Oi, time to say goodbye,” he says, offering his hand to him, “I’m happy you’re free to go home, but I’m honestly sorry about not going to see you around anymore.”

Harry smiles and takes Ed’s hand, standing up himself. “I’m sorry, too,” Harry says, still holding onto him.

Watching them, I can already feel the heat rising up into my head again. Why on earth does Harry always have to look at people as if they’re the first human being he’s ever laid eyes on?!

“I’ll make sure to visit the mall more often, from now on,” the taller boy smiles with twinkling eyes.

“Good to hear, mate,” Ed replies, “See you around, then.”

“Definitely,” Harry grins, dimples popping and all, before he goes in and hugs the Shark Head to his chest.

I actually catch myself uttering an angry snort.

In my peripheral vision, I notice Ashton shooting me a look again. When I focus on him, he raises his eyebrows and bites down on his lower lip, trying to suppress a smile. Here we go again.

“Boys,” Ed who’s let go of Harry by now, turns around to look at Luke and Ashton, the only two Shark Heads left in the circle, “Don’t forget to finish fixing the balcony of the young ones’ hut. I can’t have another kid with a sprained ankle.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Luke exclaims and jumps to his feet.

Meanwhile, I look over at Harry and notice him smiling at me openly. The angry beast inside my chest purrs in satisfaction and tells me to get up and walk over to him. My legs comply.

“You coming, Ash?” Luke yells from about 30 feet away, only now having realized that Ashton is still planted to his seat. Him and Ed have already started to leave.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” Ash shouts back, “Start without me.”

Luke gives him the thumbs up and runs off, towards the hut that he and Ashton had been working on when we arrived.

I sit down next to Harry, but stare straight ahead, knowing that Ashton is ogling at us.

“So,” he starts after a moment of silence.

Harry and I both look up into his widely smiling face, merely awaiting his next comment.

“You’re letting him go, then?” Ashton addresses me first.

I clothe my face in indifference before replying, “Obviously.”

“Your idea?” Ashton continues, unfazed.

“Yeah, as it happens,” I grumble.

“Ahh,” groans Ashton, barely biting back a chortle, “Didn’t work out between the two of you then, am I right?” Finally, he can’t help but chuckle.

He obviously knows better. He’s literally annoying the crap out of me with his snide remarks and knowing looks. He’s just trying to be a little shit, is all.

When I roll my eyes and try to share an exasperated look with Harry, I see that he doesn’t seem to find it annoying at all. He wears a modest but amused smile, looking down to his feet and playing with one of his many rings.

Ashton seems to have caught onto it, too. “Aha, I knew it!” he rejoices, “Good on you, lads!”

Harry laughs sheepishly. “Thanks, Ashton,” he says. He then turns to me and gives me a smile that I know is supposed to make me brighten up as well, but I feel way too annoyed by the blonde dude to give into it.

“Since when?” Ashton asks intrusively.

“Just a few days after you caught us,” Harry responds nonchalantly, “Actually, Lou was being very brave, back then,” he tells him and loops his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. “Came ‘round just in time.” He turns his head to look at me, his face dangerously close to mine. When I don’t move, he lightly touches his nose to my cheek, obviously trying to coax a smile out of me. But while my heart hammers away in joy, I can’t get myself to relax. There are too many people around who could see.

“Yo Tommo, no need to try and keep up appearances with me,” Ashton laughs, “You do realize that I already saw you shoving your tongue in Harry’s mouth like a deprived bitch. Do you honestly think I’ll pass out if I see you looking at him?”

I cringe at his words. “I was completely rat-arsed back then,” I huff with a frown, “And can you keep your voice down please? It’s bad enough that _you_ know about it.”

Ashton rolls his eyes. “Brave you said, eh?” he murmurs at Harry.

For some reason this makes me pause. I raise my head and look at the boy who still has his arm safely placed around my shoulders. From afar it must look like any of the guys, hanging out with each other.

Harry’s face doesn’t seem to have lost the smile but somehow, I feel bad for my behavior. I act like I’m ashamed of him. I’m not. I’d never be. He’s the best. We just need to be careful of who’s listening, who’s looking.

My gaze falls onto Harry’s other hand, resting on his thigh close to me. I’ve always loved his hands. They’re big and manly, with prominent knuckles. The heavy rings on both of his hands accentuate them even more.

I bite down on my lip to forget about my worries, allow my fingers to move forward, and gently trace over his thumb. Harry keeps his hand completely steady, for my benefit I’m sure. I pluck up my courage and slip my hand into his which welcomes me, warm and soft. I find Harry’s eyes and see that his smile has vanished. Instead, his expression is soft and intense at the same time, somehow. His arm around my neck slowly pulls away, momentarily pausing when his hand reaches my face to cup my cheek for a second. I gladly lean into it. He traces his thumb over my cheekbone before he pulls his hand away completely, only to cup it around our already intertwined hands, as well.

I feel a blush creeping over my cheeks and hope neither Harry nor Ashton notice it.

“Alright. I see,” I hear the latter say, “brave, after all.” Then he cranes his head around as if to make sure that nobody has his eyes on us.

Harry smiles at me again, and this time I give in and smirk back.

“Thanks for being so supportive about it,” says Harry, turning back to Ashton.

The other guy chortles. “Not very surprising for someone who’s also on the team, is it,” he laughs.

I raise my head to look at him sternly. “Yes, it is,” I tell him, not feeling the need to explain myself any further.

I can feel Harry’s hand lightly squeezing mine while he looks at me knowingly.

Ash shrugs his shoulders. “Well, I’m happy for you,” he genuinely smiles, reaches forward and puts a hand on either of our shoulders, “At least some of us getting their share of happiness.”

Harry looks at him for a moment. “Are you sure Luke isn’t interested?” he asks, loosening his grasp around my hand and instead, absentmindedly beginning to toy with it, “To me it seems like he likes you a lot.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Ashton sighs, “he likes me, I know. But in an entirely platonic, asexual way. We’ve grown up together, no wonder he’s attached to me. But I know what it looks like when somebody wants you. And Luke definitely never looks at me that way.”

“Maybe he’s just shy,” Harry reckons.

Ash shakes his head, peering over the water. “Nah, it’s not that,” he grumbles, “He just doesn’t like me like that.” There’s another moment of silence, before he continues. “Believe me, if I thought there was the slightest chance of him being gay, I’d be hitting on him 24/7. What’s weird is that I usually lose interest in a guy as soon as I realize he’s straight. But it seems like I just can’t get that lanky flat-arsed blonde spunk out of my head.”

“What?! You’re hoping to get into some lanky flat-arsed chick’s pants, Ash? Quite the freaky taste you have, bro,” we suddenly hear Luke’s voice from behind us, all jumping in surprise.

Harry and I let go of each other immediately while Luke comes into view, slumping himself onto Ashton’s back and hugging him from behind.

“You said you’d join me in a minute,” he continues, entirely oblivious to our three ashen faces, “You didn’t keep your promise. I’ve missed you!” He jokes exaggeratingly dramatic and buries his face in Ashton’s neck.

I can see Harry looking at him with a hopeful expression, but Ashton doesn’t share his confidence. “Uh yeah, missed you too, man,” he says with a hint of gloom in his voice, “Those two were keeping me,” nodding his head in our direction, “I’ll be right after you this time, I promise. I’ll just tell them goodbye.”

“Naaah,” Luke perks up, letting go of Ashton and sitting down next to him, one leg on either side of the log, “I wanna hear all about your chick, first. Why have I never heard of her, before?”

Ashton forces a laugh. “Well,” he wavers, obviously at a loss, “I- uh, _never_ tell you about the people I date.”

Luke stops short. “No. You don’t,” he agrees, only now becoming aware of it, before he punches Ashton in the arm, with a huge carefree grin on his face, “Hey, how is that fair? I always tell you about mine in the minutest detail.”

“Yeah…” Ashton says with a miserable expression on his face.

I cast my eyes down. Luke’s right. It isn’t fair at all. He just doesn’t know in which way.


	7. Chapter Six

**Niall’s POV**

“Come in,” I hear the voice of Sergeant Gifford from behind his office door. Clutching Liam’s resignation papers in my hand, I open the door and step into the room.

The sergeant is sitting in front of his desk in a black high-backed leather chair, going through a number of files. He doesn’t look up while I close the door behind me and stand, waiting for him to allow me to step closer or sit down.

I discretely clear my throat. “Um, Sir…” I say quietly, my hands folded behind my back for good posture. Liam taught me the trick.

Sergeant Gifford finally looks up and makes a face that suggests, he had only just noticed me. Which is ridiculous if you consider he’s just invited me in. I bet Liam would’ve not been treated like this.

“Oh, Mister…” the man’s voice fades.

“Horan,” I remind him, “Mr. Horan, Sir.” I try to give him a smile but it feels rather awkward and forced.

“Yes, Mr. Horan,” he says politely, putting down the sheet of paper he had been holding, “The intern who was introduced to us by Officer Payne, is that right?”

“Yes, Sir, that’s right. I’m the intern,” I nod my head. Not for long, though, I think to myself. Even though I still don’t absolutely like the idea. I didn’t exactly have a great time working here, these past months. But orders are orders, and I do understand that it’s the best plan for us to stay on top of things.

“Well, Mr. Horan,” Sergeant Gifford smiles at me, “I hope you’re enjoying your time with us?”

“Absolutely, Sir. Yes,” I lie and put on a smile myself.

“Excellent,” he says, obliviously, “What can I do for you?”

“I was sent to give you this,” I tell the other man, holding up the envelope with Liam’s resignation and taking a couple of steps towards the desk, “The lady at the front desk has asked me to bring it up to you. She seems to be very busy this morning.”

Sergeant Gifford raises his eyebrows in mild surprise and gestures for me to bring it over to him. “My, I think I need to have a word with Mrs. Miller,” he says, taking the envelope from me, “I wonder where she got the idea that using our department’s interns to run errands for her is acceptable? She has her own interns to order around.”

A nervous chuckle escapes my mouth. “Oh, I didn’t mind, Sir,” I tell him, “I was just coming in and walking past her desk, anyway.” In reality Mrs. Miller did not seem busy, and she did not give me anything. Not even a glance.

I watch the man in front of me turn the envelope around, to look at the name on the back. His eyes widen for a moment. “Well, well,” he says, looking back up to me, “We’ve just mentioned his name, and now here he is.” He waves the envelope.

“Sir?” I say, to keep up appearance.

“Oh, never mind, Mr. Horan. You may leave now,” he waves me off, starting to open the envelope. “Just promise me that you won’t take orders from the reception lady anymore,” he smiles mildly.

I nod my head, smiling myself, and leave the room. I am sure the guy is only this friendly to me because he likes Liam so much. Word is, he’s a very reserved and taut man. Nobody really knows him, because he is all about the business.

I walk through the open space office making my way to Officer Chapmans desk. I am usually partnered up with Liam whenever both of us are working the same shift. But whenever he’s off and I am not, I am expected to meet the staff executive to be assigned to a supervisor for the day.

“Officer Chapman,” I say to catch the grey-haired man’s attention. He is typing away on his computer, looking like he loathes every single strike at the keyboard.

He looks up to meet my eyes. “Oh, Niall,” he says, pushing the keyboard to the side. Interns are being referred to by their first name around here, except for the sergeant who refers to everyone by their last name. “Officer Payne not in today?”

“Oh, no,” I tell him, “He’s apparently called in sick.” In reality, Louis made Perrie come along with him into the city, so she could call in sick for Liam, pretending to be his wife. Honestly, I don’t know why Liam is so irritated by the fact that I spread the information about his life as a devoted husband. It has been entirely useful thus far.

“Ah, I see,” Chapman scratches his stubble, “Well, let’s see whom I can assign you to then, this morning.”

While he’s clicking away on his computer again, I catch sight of a report titled _The Creepers: Only One of the Many Juvenile Gangs in this City._

Even the name of the gang feels like a kick in the gut. I have felt sick whenever my mind went back to the day Fletcher died. I haven’t told any of the guys, but I haven’t slept much, ever since. When Linda was shot, when I saw her little body with the blood stains all over her dress, I felt like falling into a deep dark hole. The events reminded me so much of that day…

I had felt awful from the start. Lashing out on Beth, barely taking part in conversations, constantly reliving that horrible day.

I have been good at hiding it so far. I don’t think any of the guys have caught onto my constant absence, yet. The day Linda died, and the two days after, I holed up inside my room, merely leaving it to attend her funeral. The rest of the time, I hid. I didn’t feel like talking, I didn’t feel like seeing anyone. All I did was scream and cry and puke, before I fell asleep in exhaustion, just to wake up and continue. All those pictures and emotions of Linda got mixed up with those of pulling the trigger on Fletcher. Anthony was his name. And I killed him.

Feeling sick to the stomach once more, I blink my eyes quickly. The actual report is covered by another folder, so I can’t check what exactly it is about. Does it mention us, too? Does it talk about Tony’s murder? Does it mention Harry?

Before I can think of a good way of sneaking information about the topic from Chapman, Officer Fuller appears by my side. His brunette mustache looks like a fat caterpillar on top of his haughtily puckered lips.

“Chapman,” he says curtly, “The Styles family has called again.”

My heart takes a jump.

Chapman looks up from the computer and sighs heavily. “Again?”

“I think we should give them a reprimand if they do call again,” Fuller squawks in his high-pitched voice, “I don’t have the time to listen to their pesky little moans, every single day. I am beginning to feel stupid for telling them that we still have no lead. Ever since our prime suspects have lost their little ringleader, they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. Is it my fault now that we can’t investigate any further if we lost track of them? Do they think, we sit around with our feet on our desks, eating donuts all day?”

Yeah, that’s exactly what we think, a voice in my head sneers. I also reckon that the Creepers have probably vanished because they crawled back into their sewers, scared shitless, now that they’ve lost their leader. They are probably currently trying to figure out which one of the gutless oafs in their gang should lead them now. Most likely by beating each other into pulps and seeing which one of them comes out of it standing.

Officer Chapman sighs again and nods with a strained face. “Alright, next time they call, connect them through. I’ll handle them,” he says.

I can feel my palms beginning to sweat. Harry’s parents are calling daily. They must be so worried. In this moment, I feel more relieved that Louis is letting Harry go than I ever have before. I always knew, Louis cared about him more than about the money. I just hope the Styles’ don’t insist on pressing charges against Harry’s abductors, even when Harry is back with them.

“Only thing that really unnerves me, is that the ransom money is lost,” Chapman mumbles. “We caught the kid with the briefcase. We had the money. And before we even reach the office, it’s gone missing? I’m glad Mr. Styles hasn’t asked for it, yet.”

“If he does, we tell him that we need to keep it as evidence,” Fuller suggests.

“Yeah,” Chapman grumbles, “It’s a plan.”

Fuller nods and leaves us again.

“Alright, Niall,” the other officer turns to me again, “I think you can just stick with me for today. I-”

“Officer Chapman,” a voice interrupts him from behind me. I turn around and see that it is Sergeant Gifford, again. “I come barring bad news,” he tells him, “I would’ve called you into my office, but I guessed that Mr. Horan is getting assigned to a supervisor by you, so I thought this was easier.”

I frown at his words. What does one thing have to do with the other?

“I’ve come to inform you that Officer Payne has just resigned from his position,” Gifford continues. “He has taken a job at the government, starting Monday. I would usually not accept a resignation on such short notice, but Officer Payne has ensured a replacement for his position.”

“Is that so?” Chapman interestedly raises his eyebrows.

“Yes, he has suggested someone he respects and trusts whole-heartedly, as he writes. And seeing that I do trust Officer Payne, I think I will put my trust in that person, too. Even though he still needs work to be put into. I am going to arrange immediate training for him to be promoted to Officer status, as soon as he agrees to take the job,” Gifford explains.

“The possible candidate to be your second isn’t even an officer yet, Sir?” Chapman asks, “Who on earth did Payne suggest?”

Gifford doesn’t reply, but turns to me instead. “Mr. Horan, I have a proposition for you,” tells me with an amused smile.

I feel my eyes widen in shock. “Excuse me, Sir?” I say, surprised to even be addressed.

“Officer Payne has told me great things about you,” Sergeant Gifford tells me, “You are loyal and hard-working as he says. If you are willing to make an effort for it, I will have you trained to be Officer in no more than six months. If you agree, you will take Officer Payne’s desk, starting Monday. You will get physical and psychological training. You will be trained by Officer Chapman himself. He will make sure to get you ready for the exams at the end of the year.”

I blink at the sergeant. Why didn’t Liam tell me he would suggest me for the position? I thought I would be starting at the lowest level just like everybody else.

“You will also receive more elaborate shooting lessons, although I hear that you do not need to be taught much in that department,” Gifford laughs.

I put on a smile but it feels agonizing. I don’t need to be reminded on my shooting skills.

“So, what do you say, Mr. Horan?” Gifford asks, looking at me expectantly.

I waver. Shouldn’t we have discussed this with the other captains? I feel like Liam has deliberately tried to put me on the spot, so I can’t back out. He knows I wouldn’t have been fond of the idea. Then again, it would be downright negligent not to take it. The money Liam made in the position wasn’t even nearly enough for all of the Sparrows. Even with it we had to steal and lie. If I don’t take the position now, and start with the pitiful wage of a policeman applicant, we will really begin to struggle again. I remember nights where I couldn’t sleep because I was so hungry. I can’t do that to the kids.

I jerkily nod my head. “I would be delighted to take the offer,” I say with a smile.

“Great,” Sergeant Gifford says, turning around, “I expect you in my office in two hours time, to discuss everything further.”

Officer Chapman looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Alright. Let’s get to work then, Mr. Horan.”


End file.
